


Meet the Warrior of the Galaxy

by Andy_Spn_Fan



Series: Rogue Quill Obfonteri Udonta's Life [1]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:02:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 66,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28059639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andy_Spn_Fan/pseuds/Andy_Spn_Fan
Summary: This is based after Vol. 2, but Yondu didn't die! Yay! Also, Yondu's clan is back in good standings with the other 99 clans of Ravagers. Double yay!
Series: Rogue Quill Obfonteri Udonta's Life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2091867
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Guardian of the Galaxy themed story, so work with me here. It's going to have the same OC as my other stories, just not half-angel. Still the same backstory, for the most part. There obviously isn't going to be a Crowley or any other Supernatural, Blue Bloods, or NCIS characters.
> 
> I also wish to add that I do not claim any songs in this work as my own and credit all of the artists for their own songs.

I get home from school and Kat's after school job to see my grandparents were there and had already been drinking. Kat tries to sneak me upstairs to our shared room but we get caught and Kat gets thrown into the room, our grandfather locking the door. They throw me down the stairs and I curl into a ball to protect my head, hitting the closet door at the bottom of the stairs while Kat was pounding on the door to be let out.

They walk down the stairs and beat me up, stopping to drink occasionally.

When they stop, they walk away to get drunker and I go upstairs, picking the lock before going into my room with Kat. She carefully cleans me up and helps me into my pajamas before we both go to sleep.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I roll out of bed at the buzz of my alarm and quickly turn it off before getting dressed in the dark, sneaking downstairs so I don't wake my grandparents. I sneak into the garage and swipe the Walkman and tape on the workbench that had been for me under the pretense that it was for Kat. I go into the kitchen and move quietly. Kat, my sister, was already there and was making breakfast, toast with peanut butter, a banana, a bottle of water, and my medicine. She hands me mine and I quickly eat it, not knowing when my grandparents would be up. 

"R, slow down," She scolds softly and I nod, grabbing my bag. "Have a good day and you know what to do with the peel. Oh, walk home with those kids that live down the street today. I've got a thing to do today so I won't be going to school. OK?" I nod and head to school, just to get out of the house before they wake up for my safety, as I slip the Walkman with the tape inside it into a pocket of my backpack.

I see my grandfather's truck pull in and duck behind the house to just sneak around, moving quickly. He goes inside and I head to school, tossing the peel in a dumpster on the way.

When I get there, students are being let in to go to class and I go in, moving quickly and silently through other students. A kid trips me and I catch myself, just quickly gathering my stuff before going to class. I was in fifth grade and go into my classroom, turning in the homework we had the night before to the teacher before I sit in my seat, which is positioned away from the other kids. I was OK with that because, one, I didn't have a choice and, two, the kids were jerks. Everyone in this town was a jerk and I get bullied a lot. My grandparents were usually drunk and would hit me and stuff. So, Kat and I came up with ways to avoid that from happening and it involves me walking the long way to school early in the morning to get to school on time, staying out of the house until Kat came to get me, and avoiding everybody but Kat. It sucks but I don't get hurt that often, so it works, and some younger siblings of Kat's friends are kinda my friends because Kat threatened to beat them up if they didn't make sure I stayed safe.

Kat is seventeen and is in one of the higher grades in high school. She's really smart and is making sure that I am too, having me work with her on some of her homework so that I can learn and know it for when I get her age. I look out the window I sit in front of and wait for school to start, knowing today was going to be a bad day. Per usual.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So... I was right. School started with me getting called out for cheating because I got everything on the homework correct, got laughed at by the class, sent to the elementary school version of detention, had to eat lunch in there, and ended the day with getting beat up by the bigger kids in my class while the kids that are supposed to be my friends either watched or joined in. The teachers just watched and I get sent home with the kids from down the street, who were included in beating me up.

I walk home with the kids and decide to make some jokes, making them laugh.

\-------Meanwhile, in space------

Yondu looks at the latest update to the _Eclector II_ and sees that a Skrull ship was going through a jump ahead of them, heading to Terra's solar system. "Krags."

"Yeah, Cap'n?" He comes over and sees. "Wanna follow 'em?" Yondu nods and follows them through the jump, cloaking the ship to stay hidden from Terran forces. The ship sends a shuttle planetside and Yondu follows, landing behind them while the shuttle goes back to the ship after leaving three Skrulls behind the house, one of them holding a crate. Kraglin and Yondu look around while the Skrulls go inside and see that the nearest house was a decent walk away. Meaning, if anyone screamed, the other houses wouldn't hear. Which didn't seem to matter since the houses were empty and they get off of the ship, heading toward the house.

There's suddenly a teenager screaming at someone and they pause to listen. "You sold my sister to be a slave for space alcohol? You sold my sister to be a slave? How could you do that? She's your granddaughter! She's ten!"

"She killed your mother! She killed our daughter! How are you not as upset about that as we are?"

"She was three! She couldn't control another driver! Mom had been having nightmares and wasn't sleeping! My sister had no control over the accident! You two are just a couple of abusive and drunk dumbasses that can't cope with the fact that their daughter is dead and instead of seeking help from a professional, they seek help at the bottom of a liquor bottle and beat their youngest granddaughter until she's bleeding and can barely move without any pain!"

There's a bang from something and Yondu and Kraglin quickly go in to see a teenage girl on the floor of a room with chairs and a couch while a Skrull shapeshifts to duplicate her. The other two Skrulls blast the other two while they were drinking from a liquor bottle, killing them instantly, and Yondu whistles through two of them while Kraglin blasts the third one. They kneel next to the teenager and Kraglin carefully injects her behind the ear with the translator chip since she was still breathing.

"How old are ya, girly?" Yondu asks and Kraglin holds her head in his lap while Yondu puts pressure on her chest, which was bleeding from a hole. "Wha' happened ta ya?"

"Seventeen... That... That green freak took my grandfather's gun and shot me..." She looks at Yondu then Kraglin and groans softly, coughing up some blood. "They... They sold my sister to those freaks... For alcohol... She's just ten..."

"Ain'tcha 'sposed ta be in school or somethin'?"

"Yeah... But I had to get my check... And buy food before they could... Use the money for booze..."

"Ya got a job?" She nods and her eyes were starting to close. "'Ey, keep yer eyes open fer a bit more," Yondu rumbles and presses harder on her chest despite the pool of blood forming beneath her.

"Can... Can you do me a favor?"

"Wha', girly?"

"Watch out... For my sister for me..."

"Yer gonna do tha' yerself," Kraglin growls and she shakes her head.

"No... I'm gonna die before... She can get home... From school... Just... Keep her safe... Please..." She looks at both of them and they both nod.

"A'ight, girly... Tha' girl gonna be safe..." Yondu murmurs and she nods, closing her eyes.

"Thank you... And... Don't let her... See this... Or know... About what... They did... Selling her... For booze..."

"A'ight... Ya got it..." Kraglin brushes her hair out of her face and her eyes close fully before her chest stops its steady rise and fall. "She gone, Cap?" Yondu presses his finger against her throat and nods after a moment. He moves and gently rests her head on the floor. "How we gonna keep tha' kid from seein' this?"

"Light 'er up," He says simply and they set fire to the house.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When they're done, Yondu waits in the back and Kraglin waits near a tree in the front. "Lissen up!" The crew looks at Yondu and he glares at all of them. "Tha' girl is not ta be touched! Ya lay a hand on 'er, ya ain't gonna have it no more! Git it?"

"Yes, Cap'n!"

"Good," He growls and crosses his arms to wait.

\---------

Kraglin sees a group of kids, one of them walking backward, and rolls his eyes. The one that was walking backward turns and goes pale while shaking their head slightly, walking slowly toward it at first before breaking into a run, kicking up dust. "Kat!" The kid yells and he runs over, grabbing them. They hit him and he drops them, turning to see the kids snickering. They quickly sober up though and he narrows his eyes at them.

"Oh, no! Don't let her go in there!" One of them says sarcastically and Kraglin glares at them, growling.

"Git," He snarls, nodding his head down the street, and the kids bolt while he goes to catch the kid. "Jus' had ta say we was gonna keep 'er safe..." He grumbles and catches her, taking her to the backyard where she just fights him harder. _Ain't bad... She got potential ta be a good Ravager... Scrawny 'nough she can fit in them vents an' shit..._

"...Cunt bucket!"

"Wha'?" He scoffs and sets her down, holding onto her jacket. "Lissen, we is 'ere ta help ya."


	2. Chapter 2

I start to walk home from school one day and walk with my 'friends' as we laugh, just walking down the street for about twenty minutes. We live within a ten-minute walk of each other's houses and talk, making jokes. We get to my house and they stop, looking at it. I was walking backward and turn to see my house smothered in flames. "No..." I breathe and look at them. They watch me and I turn back to the house. I try to run inside to help them and get caught by someone before they stick me with a needle behind my ear.

"It isn't safe in there, kid!" They hiss in my ear and I hit them in the face with my elbow. "Sonuva-" They growl, letting me go, and I bolt.

"Don't let her go in there!" One of my friends yells at the person and he nods a bit.

"Git." He nods his head down the road and all of them look at me before running. He chases after me and catches me right before I can get into the house.

"Let go of me!" I scream and try to get free. He drags me to the back of the house and I see a bunch of people of varying colors, like pink and green. "Let go of me, you... You... You fucking cunt bucket!" I scream and struggle more.

"Wha'?" He scoffs and sets me down, holding onto the back of my hoodie. "Lissen, kid. We here to help ya, so ya mind yerself now." I try to get away and notice he's only holding onto my hoodie, slipping out of it. "Wha'?" He asks, surprised, and I kick him in the shin before running towards the house again, not caring about myself too much right now. I know that my family is dead but I still need to get my medicine and start to open the back door, where there aren't many flames when there's a sharp whistle.

My shirt gets stuck to the door and I reach to try to get unstuck as a thing with blue skin and a black fin on his head comes towards me. I take a deep breath and just slip out of my shirt as I open the door, running inside. "Tha' kid is nuts, Cap'n." The guy that was holding me yells and I run to the kitchen sink, gathering up all of my medicine into my pockets and backpack that I had managed to hold onto somehow. I just sweep everything into it and grab some leftovers from the fridge too with drinks before someone is grabbing me.

"Let go of me!" I scream and struggle, dropping my bag as they throw me over their shoulder. "Shit!" They start to get out of the house and I struggle more. "STOP! Grab my bag! Please!" They pause and go back, grabbing the bag before quickly getting out as flames come into the kitchen, a lot of smoke getting in my lungs. I cough like crazy and they set me down, looking at me. It was the blue thing and I snatch my bag from him, digging through it as I cough more.

"Are ya a'ight, girl?" I shake my head and finally find an inhaler, shaking it before putting the spout in my mouth and breathing in a few puffs of the air before nothing else comes out while I'm still hacking, unable to breathe.

"Fuck..." I wheeze and look in my bag, not able to find what I need as I try to stand back up. The blue guy stops me and I glare at him. "Need to get... Machine..." I cough and shove him slightly as I try to get to my feet again. He lets me this time and I go inside again, quickly yanking my nebulizer off the kitchen table before realizing I don't have the liquid stuff it needs to work. I cough and cover my mouth with my arm a bit as I try to find it, climbing quickly onto the stove to get on top of the fridge.

"Girl! We ain't got time fer yer games!" The blue thing yells and I grab the huge boxes of liquid medicine right before he comes in and grabs me again. "We gotta get off Terra an' back to m'ship!" He makes sure to grab the stuff I had grabbed and gets me outside again before the fire gets to the garage, causing a huge explosion. He just carries me to the crowd of things of all the different colors. I was still coughing and my entire body was moving from the force of them. "Git the Doc ta Med!" He yells to someone and steps onto something that suddenly appears out of thin air.

"My... My hoodie..." I cough and could barely get the words out.

"Krags! Grab the girl's thing!" He yells and the guy who was holding me earlier grabs it, tossing it to the blue guy. He slips it on me and I cough still. He suddenly sets me down on a bed type thing and something is sliding over my face. I cough and breathe in as slowly as I could, holding the mask to my face. I don't notice anything else happening around me as I try to control my breathing. 

After a while of having the mask on, I'm able to breathe normally and carefully take the mask off, looking around. No one was around me and I get off of the bed with some difficulty because it's not set for my height. I move as quietly as I possibly can and see a window. It was dark outside of it and I look out, seeing millions of stars and... Are those _planets?!_ I gasp softly and hear someone coming. I quickly move into the shadows of the hall and around the corner, hopefully out of sight. There's a whistle and something red is right in front of my face.

"Git out here, girl." The voice of the blue guy says simply and I snatch the arrow out of thin air, turning the corner to stab him with it, hopefully. He catches my wrist and takes the arrow out of it. "Thank ya fer bringin' my arrow back ta me, darlin'." He smirks at me and his teeth were as sharp as knives. That's when I remember, I had picked up a pocket knife after school today on the walk home since it was just lying on the ground and quickly get it out of my pocket, flipping it open on the guy. But, since I'm not used to flipping a knife open quickly, I drop it and he kicks it away towards the guy who was holding me.

"Wha's this?" He asks as he picks it up and looks at it, then at me. "Where ya git this?" He narrows his eyes at me and I narrow mine right back.

"Up your ass and to the left," I growl and it makes the blue guy laugh. "What's so funny, Smurf?" I glare at him and he laughs harder.

"Girl, ya remin' me of my other boy." He chuckles and looks at me.

"Well, sure as Hell not in color schemes. I don't look like I just got out of a paint bucket unlike everyone else on this ship." I look at the other guy. "Other than him, I guess." He startles and looks at me. "Why are you here? Did Papa Smurf here kidnap you too?" He looks angry and has a knife off of his shoulder, pointing it at me angrily. "I'm gonna take that as a no." I roll my eyes and cross my arms. "Where am I?"

"Jus' outside of Terra's atmosphere." The blue guy smirks at me and I look at him, confused.

"Terra? The Hell is Terra?" He points out the window and I look out the window following his finger to see Earth. "Earth..." I say softly and back away from the window a bit, back hitting one of them. "I'm in space..." I mutter to myself and one of them scoffs.

"Where else would ya be?" The normal looking guy asks and I run my hands through my hair, not quite hearing him. I look around a bit and peek inside the room I had been brought to. "Wha' ya lookin' fer?"

"My sister. She would love this. Where is she?" I look at them and they look down at me.

"She ain't here." The blue guy says and I'm confused. "Some Skrulls came an'-" He's cut off when I just put a hand up and he looks pissed.

"She's dead?" I ask simply and they nod.

"Y'don't interrupt me, girl. 'M the Cap'n 'a this ship!" He yells at me and I don't look at him, sorting through my thoughts for the moment.

"Who started the fire?" I ask simply and he looks even more pissed. I look into the room and see my bag, going to grab it. "If you don't want to answer me, fine. But I'm going to go eat something." I walk away and towards some loud noises. I don't hear anyone following me and get to a huge room where there were tons of what looked like people but with varying colors. No one seems to notice me and I look around a bit for an empty table, spotting one on a slightly raised floor. I go over to it and sit in a chair, pulling food out of my bag to eat. I start eating and ignore how everyone's eyes are on me in the now silent room.

I hear footsteps walk in and over to me as I eat, hair in a ponytail. "Hey!" Someone barks but I ignore them, continuing to eat, and there's a whistle as the weird arrow goes under my chin to lift my head where the blue guy was standing with the normal-looking one. "Yer in the Cap'n's seat." The normal-looking one growls and I raise an eyebrow at him as I grab the arrow from under my chin, purposefully nicking my chin with the tip of it before setting it on the table in front of them.

"There's plenty of chairs in here, he can just find another one," I say simply and continue to eat. Someone slams their hands down on the table and I look up.

"Tha' is my seat, girl. Git out of it an' show respect." The blue guy snarls and I slam my own hands down on the table, standing on the chair to be eye level with him.

"Respect?! You fucking cunt buckets are probably the reason my house was on fire! My sister was in there! My family! And you fucking set it on fire and killed them! I ain't gonna show you jack shit other than this fucking bird until I know exactly what fucking happened to my family." I growl the last part to just the two people in front of me and flip them both off before putting the lid back on my food. I stuff the bowl back in my bag and start to leave the room. There's a sharp whistle and I'm eye to eye with the arrow. Some of them start to cheer but are cut off by a barked order from somebody to shut up. I just turn slightly and try to go around the arrow, getting pinned to a wall with it in the hood of my hoodie. The blue guy comes over and grabs my chin to make me look at him.

"'M Cap'n Yondu Udonta. Yer on m'ship, the _Eclector_ an' ya will show m'respect." He growls at me and I glare at him. "Kraglin!" He barks and the normal-looking guy, Kraglin, comes over.

"Cap'n?"

"Show the girl ta her new room." He smiles that knife smile at me and takes the arrow out of my hood, releasing me from the wall. I keep my balance for the most part and glare at Yondu. "Git." He growls at me and Kraglin grabs my arm, dragging me out of the room. He opens a door and gently shoves me in before shutting the door. I grab a pillow off of the bed and throw it at the door with a yell, angry and sad, and a whole boatload of other emotions. I breathe slowly and shake a little bit, trying to calm down. I dig around in my bag and pull out something I swiped from the garage of my dad's, well grandpas. My Mom died when I was three and my grandparents adopted me and my older sister, so I grew up with them as my parental figures but I knew that I used to have a real Mom. My grandparents told me about my birth dad in angry tones and told me his name was Terran and that he left after having a fun night with my Mom then I was born but not much else. 

I carefully grab a cassette tape that belonged to him and push it into the Walkman, slipping the headphones on my ears to listen to the mix of music he made for me for Christmas. He told me last night after getting drunk, but I was still happy about it. I sit on the floor against the wall by the door and listen to the music loudly, slowly relaxing. I start to shiver and wrap my arms around me tightly, rubbing my hands up and down slightly. I look at the bed and grab all of the blankets from there, wrapping them tightly around me before I sit back down in the same spot as before. I drag my bag over and take my night medicine. I have asthma, allergies, and some slight anxiety. I have to take two different types of inhalers plus a rescue one, two different allergy pills, and some anxiety medicine if I need it, which isn't often. I take two of the anxiety pills tonight, though, because I want to be able to sleep and they make me drowsy every time I take them.

I sigh softly and listen to the music, slowly falling into a light sleep.

Yondu comes in with Kraglin to check on me and they both see me shivering slightly in my sleep on the floor. I wake a bit to tug the blankets tighter around me and press the rewind then play buttons on the Walkman to start the cassette over again, able to hear them talking before it starts. "Damn. Fergit Terrans git cold easy." Yondu mutters and he picks me up. I open my eyes and push my headphones off my ear.

"You know my Dad?" I rub my eyes and he looks at me with a snort.

"Naw, I don' know yer Daddy."

"You said Terran... That's what my family said his name was..." They look at each other than at me and they set me on the bed, both of them giving me their jackets. I put them on under the blankets and stop shivering.

"Wha's yer Daddy look like, girl?" I try to slide off of my bed to grab my bag but Yondu stops me and grabs it himself, dumping it all out on the bed.

"Hey! Be careful!" I catch my nebulizer before it falls on the floor and breathe a sigh of relief. "I need this in case I have another asthma attack!"

"A wha'?"

"That thing where I couldn't breathe earlier was an example of it. I have a lot of medical issues but they're manageable..." I mutter and see a picture flutter down, catching it. I look at it and carefully trace my Mom's smiling face next to my birth dad before showing it to them. Yondu snatches it out of my hands and tears it a bit, making me whimper softly. "Be careful! That... That's the only picture I have of her!" I look at him and he nods a bit, looking at the man. "Do... Do you know him?" I ask carefully and softly as he shows Kraglin, whose eyes go wide as he looks between me and the picture.

"Yeah, we know yer Daddy. He's my other boy. Peter Quill." He looks at me then grabs my arm through the blankets suddenly and I yelp, trying to get out of it. He lets me go just as suddenly as he grabbed me and narrows his eyes at me. "Wha's wrong with yer arm?" I shrug a bit and he scoffs. "Ya don' know wha's wrong with yer own arm?" I don't look at him and he just suddenly has the blankets and jackets off, starting to take my hoodie off of me.

"Hey! Stop it!" I yell and try to squirm away but he gets it off anyway. Kraglin sucks in a breath at the long line of bruises on my arms and I don't look at them.

"Who did tha' to ya?" Yondu growls and I look at him slightly. "Well?!" He asks impatiently and I look at my lap, holding my Walkman closer.

"Some stupid asshats at school... They make fun of me for not having my parents and the fact that I'd call my grandparents Mom and Dad cuz they were the only parents I remember... My real Mom died when I was three and my grandparents adopted me and my sister... Kids at school make fun of me a lot... And hit me and stuff... So did my grandparents if they got drunk... So... It's a mix of kids and drunk grandparents..." I mumble and fiddle with the cord of my headphones. Yondu gently grabs my arm and lifts me out of bed, handing my hoodie back. I put it back on and put my Walkman in my pocket. Yondu guides me to a room with a huge window in the front of it and goes over to a chair as I go towards the window, looking out of it at all of the planets and stars.

"How old are ya, girl?" Yondu asks suddenly and I blink a bit.

"Ten..." I focus on the view outside again and smile a bit. "This is amazing..." I breathe and someone has their hand on my shoulder. I look up a bit and it's Kraglin. "You guys get to see this every day?" He nods and I look back out the window. "That's awesome..." I hear Yondu yelling at someone and go over to stand next to him, seeing a man that's covered in red markings, a green woman, a woman with antennas, a raccoon on two legs, a tiny tree dancing around, and... "Dad?" I ask very softly and Yondu jumps, looking at me.

"Gods, girl! Yer quiet!" He laughs a bit and looks at my Dad as Kraglin comes over to stand with his hands on my shoulders.

_"You have a kid?"_ The raccoon asks and laughs.

"And you have an adorable raccoon as a pet?!" I gasp and the man covered in red markings laughs while the raccoon looks mad. Yondu gives me the picture and motions towards the screen when I look at him confused. "Oh..." I look at the screen again and see the man was looking at me while the green woman was glaring at him and looking at me as the man in red markings laughs still. I show them the picture and step a bit closer, keeping my eyes on the man.

"This... This is my Mom..." I point to her carefully and he looks at the picture closely. I point to the man in the picture and look at the floor for a moment before looking back up. "This... This is you... Right?" I ask carefully and he looks at the picture.

_"Dad, can you send me a picture of that so I can see it more clearly?"_ Yondu nods and does that. The man looks at something off the screen before looking at me and then back at the thing off the screen. I wait nervously and turn the picture so I can hold it close to my chest, pretending my Mom's hugging me. The man clears his throat a bit and I look up at him.

_"What's your name?"_ He asks and I get mad that he's asking me that before even answering my question.

"Not until you answer my question! Are you the guy in the picture?! Are you my dad?!"

_"Calm down, kid. Name first, then I'll answer."_

"NO! Listen here, you piece of shit! I've spent my whole life not knowing who my fucking father was and if you are him, you better fucking tell me! If you don't, I'm going to take Yondu's arrow and shove it so far up your fucking ass that your teeth will get knocked out! Now answer me!" I scream at him and they're all silent after it as I breathe heavily for a couple of seconds.

_"Yes, I am..." He says slowly and I look at him. "You... You kinda look like your Mom..."_

"How would you know?! You left after one night with her!" I growl and he looks surprised, smiling a bit.

_"Actually... I was there for a week or so..."_ He then looks at the green lady and she looked pissed. _"It was before you, I swear, Gamora."_ He says quickly and charmingly smiles at her.

"So... You... You left my Mom to... To what? Date a female Kermit?!"

_"HEY! That is not necessary!"_ He snaps at me and I glare at him.

"You fucking left my mother pregnant and didn't bother coming to check in!" He looks pissed and looks around the screen a bit.

_"Where is your Mom?"_

"Dead. She's been dead for six years, nearly seven. You'd have known that if you had bothered staying. My sister was right... I should've just forgotten about you... You're just my sperm donor and nothing more..." I snarl and was close to tears, not wanting to cry in front of these badasses. I turn to leave and skirt around Kraglin when he tries to stop me.

_"Wait! Come on, kid! Just wait a minute!"_ Peter tries to call after me but I just slip my headphones on and play my music, running through the ship. 

Yondu looks after me for a moment and looks at Peter. "Good job, boy. Yer real good with the ladies." He smirks at him and Peter glares at him.

_"Don't..."_ He looked like he was going to be sick and very sad. _"I... I didn't know she was pregnant... I wouldn't have left if I did... She probably would've either told me to go or come with me..."_ He doesn't look at anyone and moves away from the rest of the group a bit before punching something. _"Damnit!"_ He growls, pissed at himself, and leaves the room completely after saying _"We'll be there as soon as we can. Dad, please find her..."_ He looks at the screen a bit before leaving fully and Gamora ends the call.

Kraglin looks at Yondu before going over to pull up the security feed and starts to look for me. "Should I call fer the crew, Cap'n?" He looks at Yondu and he shakes his head.

"We gotta fin' her, Krags. Ya never know wha' Ravagers are gonna do." Kraglin nods his agreement and keeps looking for me.

"Cap'n! She's at the airlocks!" He says after a couple of minutes and they both run to get there before I can do anything stupid.


	3. Chapter 3

I have my music blaring through my headphones and reach for a switch, not knowing what the words above it said but it was the only thing nearby so it must open the door. I stop a couple of inches from it and breathe shakily, retracting my hand. I back up a step and see movement in the small window, whirling around to see Yondu and Kraglin stopping inside the doorway. I push my headphones off of my ears and back up to be against the airlock door. They freeze and put their hands up to show that they weren't going to hurt me. I reach for the switch and there's a whistle, my arm suddenly stuck to the metal by the sleeve. They both come over quickly and get me away from the airlock. I don't fight and let them, looking at them as I notice the flames on their jackets.

"What do the flames mean?" I ask suddenly and they both look at me.

"It means we're Ravagers," Yondu says as he takes me back to the room with the big window just as there's a message for Yondu. He answers it and bows his head slightly as he pounds his fist over his heart twice. "Cap'n Ogord."

_"Yondu. We'll be docking in your bay very shortly. We need to talk, son."_ He nods and Captain Ogord hangs up the call.

"Krags!" Yondu barks as he starts to walk and Kraglin follows with me right behind him. We get to a huge room with a lot of spaceships and I look around in awe just as the doors open to let another ship in. I stand slightly behind Kraglin as they watch the ship come in and stop just inside of the doors before a tall guy with grayish hair steps out along with a man covered in sparkles. "Stakar." Yondu bows his head a bit at him and Stakar comes over to look at him.

"I hear you're dealing with kids again." Stakar looks at him sternly and Yondu looks away. 

"No, Sir." Stakar raises an eyebrow and looks at me.

"Who is she then?" Yondu and Kraglin look at me and Yondu starts to speak when I step forward, looking up at Stakar.

"Granddaughter of the Ravager Captain Yondu Udonta of the _Eclector_ , Captain Ogord." I pound my fist over my heart twice like I had seen Yondu do and bow my head slightly. I look up to see Stakar crouching in front of me as he looks me over and maintain eye contact with him. "Which would make you my Great Grandfather, Sir," I smirk slightly and he looks at me in surprise. 

"Well, she clearly ain't Kraglins kid. Quill's?" Yondu nods and they look at me. "You're pretty young to be a Ravager, don't you think?"

"No, Sir. I don't. It's in my blood."

"Well, if you're gonna be acting like a Ravager, you're gonna need to look like one too." He smiles at me and I was a little confused. "You need your Ravager leathers, girl." I nod a bit and bow my head slightly at him out of respect as he stands.

"He gits ya respect 'fore I do?" Yondu scoffs and I look at him, unamused.

"You have used your arrow to pin me to something at least three times, Gramps," I smirk up at him and he laughs. 

"Girl, yer gonna be a damn good Ravager." He smiles at me and I smile back a bit as another ship starts to come in.

"Who's this?" I look at the ship before looking up at Yondu again and he just smiles at me as the ship stops. "Yondu?" I turn to look at him as I hear someone get off of the ship and turn to see Peter with his group, lips curling back into a snarl. "Why is _he_ here?" I glare at him with venom in my voice and Kraglin puts a hand on my shoulder to keep me from leaving.

"Cuz he's m'boy an' yer Daddy." He says simply and watches Peter as he comes over with his group. I clench my jaw and watch them come over. Peter crouches in front of me and smiles at me a bit.

"Hey, kid... Look, I get th-" He's cut off when I punch him in the face, knocking him onto his ass, and grunts a bit.

"That was for leaving my Mom, you asshat!" I growl at him and he rubs his jaw a bit, looking at me. "I don't care if you say you didn't know! I don't care about your damn excuses! You had your fun with her and then left like it was nothing!" I growl at him and he keeps his eyes locked on mine. "You gave her a fake name! You told her your name was Terran! You used the knowledge that she didn't have to make her believe you! It was a dick move and... And..." I drift off and just growl, all of my emotions driving me crazy. "I... UGH!" I yell in annoyance and rub my face. He goes back to his crouching position and gently touches my shoulder.

"I know that you probably don't care... But, I'm sorry, kid... I really am... I swear I didn't know that she was pregnant and I wouldn't have left if I did... I would've suggested she come with me... With your sister... I am so sorry..." He says softly to me and I don't look at him, not sure what to say. He gently touches the sides of my face with his hands and has me look at him. "Just... Just give me a chance... Please..." He whispers and I look at him, searching for any lies in his eyes for a couple of moments while everything is silent around us.

"Fine." He smiles at me a bit. "On one condition!" He looks at me and nods a bit. "You have to call me Captain," I smirk at him and he gapes at me while everyone else laughs.

"Not happening." He says simply and I shrug, starting to move his hands. "Alright, alright! Do I have to, though?"

"Yes. In front of Yondu's whole crew."

"Kid, that's gonna be embarrassing as Hell."

"That's the point." He looks confused and I look into his eyes. "I went through seven years of embarrassment because I didn't have any parents and was being looked after by alcoholic grandparents and, when school started, getting picked on and beat up by jerk kids. You can handle a moment of embarrassment to make up for it, can't you?" I raise an eyebrow at him and he just nods a bit. I look around and see his ship again.

"Actually... I'll give you another option."

"Yes." He says quickly and I smile a bit.

"Alright! Then let's go!" I start going toward his ship and he quickly stops me. I smirk at him and he's confused. "You should've listened to the other option before you agreed, Quill."

"What is it?"

"You got to let me fly your ship," I smirk at him proudly and his mouth drops open as he starts shaking his head. "Ah, ah, ah." I shake my head and look at him. "You already agreed."

"I also agreed to call you Captain. Let's do that instead." I think a bit, tilting my head from side to side a bit as I weigh the options against each other in my head, and nod after a moment.

"I'll accept that. _And_ you have to introduce me to the whole crew before I walk into the room as Captain."

"Why Captain, though? Out of anything you could've chosen, why that one? Why not... Princess? Or your majesty?" He suggests desperately and I scoff.

"Cuz, those are lame. Being called Captain is way cooler. You have him," I point to Stakar before continuing to speak, "Who's a freaking giant of a man. Then you have Yondu who can control an arrow by whistling! That's fucking cool, dude!" I smile and he looks at me.

"You're taking this a little too well..." I shrug and put my hair up in a ponytail, revealing a scar I always forget about.

"Whoa! Where'd ya git tha'?" Kraglin asks and places his hand on it. I tense and grab his hand tightly, digging my thumbnail into the groove next to his thumb. He growls out in pain and I let him go as suddenly as I had grabbed him, blinking a bit.

"Sorry..." I mutter and put my hands in my pocket to fiddle with the Walkman. Someone suddenly has it out of my pocket and hands. I spin and my eyes land on the raccoon who was smirking coldly at me, I think.

"Who's an adorable pet now, kid?" I glare at him and can feel my temper rising.

"Put. It. Down." I growl loudly and he laughs.

"If ya say so." He throws it to the floor but the tiny tree catches it before it can hit the ground and rolls with it over to me. I crouch down and catch both of them, holding them both close to me as I glare at the raccoon.

"This is one of the few things I have left from my home that isn't medicine to keep me alive, you ass!" I gently push both of them in Quill's hands and rush towards the raccoon. He pulls out a thing that looks like a toy gun and points it at me.

"I've been meaning to try this out." He smirks and I simply snatch it out of his hands, slapping him across his face. He staggers backward and looks shocked. I look at the toy gun thing and just hold it out to Gamora, the green lady. She takes it and I go back over to Quill and the tiny tree, taking him and my Walkman back from him.

"Thank you for catching my Walkman..." I say softly to him and he smiles.

"I am Groot!" I smile a bit and don't notice the other watching our interaction.

"Nice to meet you, Groot. I'm..." I think a bit, hating the name Andrea, and look at the others. "Can I go by a different name than what I was born with?"

"Why?" Quill asks and I kinda shrug.

"I hate my name. It's stupid." I say simply and he shrugs back. 

"Don't see why not. What's it going to be?" I think a bit, trying to figure out a badass name, and come up with one.

"Rogue."

"Rogue?" Quill repeats and I nod.

"I'm gonna be a Ravager, I should have a name that reflects that. Besides, it's better than some name that no one would even get because it's a... What do you call Earth, again?"

"Terra."

"Because it's a Terra, Terran, whatever thing. Rogue fits and that's my name now. So fucking deal with it, Quill." 

"Alright, hang on a second. I got a few conditions of my own now."

"Nope. I got to make the conditions because you're trying to get into my life, not the other way around." 

"It's two conditions, just hear them out." He says simply and I motion for him to talk, still holding Groot. "Chill with the swearing, Rogue. And stop calling me Quill. I'm your Dad, you should call me that." 

"Did you already forget that I punched you to the floor? If so, I can remind you." He sighs and rubs his face. "I'm not going to call you that." He starts to stand and I say something else. "For the time being. If you can prove to me that you're not a total asshat, then I'll start that. You may be my father, but you haven't been a dad." I say simply and slip my Walkman into my pocket.

"What music do you listen to with that?" He asks and I narrow my eyes at him a bit before slipping my headphones off of my neck, handing them to him. He puts them on and I press play to what happens to be a death metal song. "Jesus!" He yells and hits my headphones off of his head while I pause the song, catching them and slipping them back around my neck. "What the Hell was that?!" 

"One of my songs. I have a lot of different ones on here."

"Like what?" He raises an eyebrow at me and I think a bit.

"I have... Classic rock, heavy metal, pop, hip hop, rap..." I drift off as I see him looking at me weird. "Did you not listen to any music when you were with my Mom?"

"Just mine." He stands and goes to his ship. I look at Yondu and Kraglin to see them rolling their eyes. He comes back after a minute with his own Walkman and headphones, slipping them on my ears before clicking play. I listen and hear a familiar song near the end, smiling a bit. "What?"

"Mom loved this song..."

"Which one?" I give him the headphones and he listens, smiling. "I bet. I kept playing this one when she gave me something to look it up on to play it."

"Her phone?" He nods and smiles.

"How'd you know?" I shrug a bit.

"Mom told my sister and my sister kept telling me whenever I asked about the song. Apparently, she said that 'it was so annoying yet so amazing at the same time'? She must've been talking about you more than she was talking about the song." I smirk and he kinda blushes.

"Girl, yer gonna fit right in." Yondu laughs and I smile.

"That's the whole point, isn't it?" I set Groot on my shoulder and he smiles.

"I am Groot!" He says happily and I laugh softly.

"Is that all he says?"

"Yeah, it is. And he says that he hates you and your guts." The raccoon says and I glare at him before looking at Quill.

"Get your trash panda before I turn him into roadkill."

"Rocket, calm down. Rogue, no killing tonight." Rocket laughs and I look at him with a glare. "You should get to bed. I can introduce you to the crew as Captain Rogue tomorrow in the mess, alright?" I nod and hand Groot to him. "Good night, kid." I nod and head out of the room, following the way I came with Kraglin and Yondu from the room with the big window.

"Krags."

"Yes, Cap'n."

"Make sure she don' git lost."

"Aye, Cap'n." Kraglin follows after me and sees me stop in front of the big window. He goes over to me and looks out it with me.

"It's beautiful..." I whisper and he looks around. "You're probably used to it, but it is..." I look around at all of the stars and sigh softly. "I don't want this dream to end... I know that when I wake up I'll be in a hospital bed on Earth from tripping and hitting my head or something... And my life will go back to sucking... So I want to try to memorize everything... Plus, it felt so good to hit my Dad in the face..." I smile up at Kraglin and he smiles back a bit. I look back out the window and rub my eyes a bit, tired. "Can you help me find my room?" He nods and leads me to it.

I climb into the bed and under all of the blankets, sighing softly again. "Best dream ever..." I murmur before falling asleep and Kraglin shuts the door, going back to the others.

"She thinkin' it's a dream, Cap'n. Tha's why she takin' it so good." Yondu nods a bit and looks at Quill. "Oh, she said tha' it fel' good to hit Pete in the face." Yondu laughs and Quill stands.

"She'll realize it isn't a dream when she wakes up tomorrow."

"Hopefully she will hit you more. That was very funny." The man with red markings laughs and Quill sighs.

"Thanks, Drax." He looks at Rocket and crosses his arms. "You threatened to shoot my kid." He growls and Rocket shrugs.

"She would've had it coming! She's a twerp!" Rocket is suddenly pinned against a wall with Quill's hand in his vest and their faces very close.

"You so much as threaten to hurt her again, Rocket, we'll be seeing how good a robot raccoon tastes in a stew. We clear?" He snarls and Rocket nods, straightening his vest when he's set down on the floor again. "Krags, where's her room?" He turns to look at Kraglin and he looks back at him.

"Wha' fer?"

"Waking up somewhere you thought was just a dream is rough, especially for a kid who's already been through Hell. Where's her room?" Kraglin motions for him to follow him and he does, after passing Groot to the lady with the antennas. "Keep an eye on Groot, Mantis." He murmurs as he walks after Kraglin and sits on the floor across from my bed to keep an eye on me. "Thanks, Krags."

"No problem, Petey." He leaves and I shiver a bit, still cold. Quill stands and takes off his jacket, draping it over me. I settle down and sleep peacefully. He sits back down and watches me sleep until he falls asleep himself.

I sleep for a long while until my body finally decides to say get the fuck up and I sit up carefully, rubbing my eyes before opening them. I look around and tense. _It wasn't a dream._ My eyes fall on the still sleeping figure of my Dad and I quietly get out of bed, leaving the room. I wander aimlessly and accidentally bump into some big yellow guy, falling on my ass. He turns and glares at me as I get up. "Watch where yer goin', girl." He growls and I nod, quickly moving past him, accidentally bumping him again. He grabs me and throws me against the wall with a growl. "I said, watch where yer goin'!" He yells right in my face and I wince a bit, not looking at him. He grabs my chin and makes me look at him.

He drops me to the floor on my feet and punches me in my stomach. I grunt and drop to my knees, struggling to breathe. "Next time you'll watch where yer goin', won't'cha?" He grabs my hair and lifts my head to look at him. "Won't'cha?" He repeats and I nod slightly. "Good. Now, git. Unless ya want more." I try to get up but am struggling a lot and he yanks me to my feet with a huge hand around my torso, tightly, to 'help'. I move as fast as I can away from him and hear him laugh at my pain.

I end up in the room with all the spaceships and sit behind some huge stacks of crates, trying to breathe through the pain. 

\-------

About an hour later, Quill wakes up and stretches a bit, seeing my bed empty. He stands up and starts looking for me in the mess and the control room. He quickly walks out to find security and bumps into Stakar, who was walking with Kraglin and Yondu, without realizing he did.

"Quill? What's wrong?" Stakar asks and the three of them start to follow Quill.

"Rogue's not in her room or the mess. I can't find her, Dad. I know you trust your crew, but I remember what some of them did when I was a kid. It could be ten times worse for her because she's a girl." He was worried and scared as he walks quickly to the security room, the other three men following him. He gets in and starts to look through the security feeds.

He sees me walk into a hall with a blind spot and then out of the blindspot, too long after I should have. He looks through the rest of the cameras and sees me go into the hangar. He leaves and starts to go that way, not even noticing the other three following him at this point. He was running at this point and skids into the hangar, looking around. "Where would I hide when I was first on here?" He murmurs to himself and starts to head towards small spaces. "Look in any small space you can find!" He yells at the other three and keeps looking.

\--------

I hear Quill yelling and try to stay quiet, curling myself up a bit more causing me to hiss in pain.

"Shut it!" Kraglin yells and all sound around me freezes. I curl up tighter and growl very softly. "I think I foun' her!" He yells and crates start to move from around me faster than I can do anything about it. I try to sneak around them but someone catches me and I freak, going into fight or flight mode and I fight like Hell.

I scratch, claw, kick, bite, and scream to try to get away but nothing helps as they just hold me tighter, causing me pain. I gasp softly and they set me on the floor slowly. I wrap my arms around my stomach and crouch down to make myself smaller, something I learned to do when kids were beating me up. Someone gently lays a hand on my shoulder and has me sit down. I sit and can't help but hiss at the scrunched up position I'm in. 

"Put yer legs down, girl. It'll hur' less." I slowly do and wince a bit, keeping my arms wrapped around my stomach. "Ya a'ight, girl?" I nod, not looking at them, and hear someone scoff.

"So you won't mind if I look to make sure for myself?" Quill says before he's suddenly lifting my shirt and I try to stop him.

"Damn, girl. Yer still breathin'?" My torso was covered in bruises and the worst one was between my stomach and ribs.

"I'm managing to, yeah..." I scoff and wince when it hurts.

"Who did this?" Quill growls and I look at him to see that he's pissed. I shrug a bit and he grabs my face gently, still making me wince though because I had bruises there too. "Rogue, tell me who did this. Now." He growls and I don't look at him.

"I... I don't know... It was some big yellow guy..." I mutter and he nods, standing up. He gently pulls me to my feet and looks at Yondu.

"'M on it, boy." Yondu taps something on his wrist and starts to speak, his voice echoing all over the ship. "All crew report ta the mess hall in five minnits." He clicks the thing on his wrist again and stops transmitting his voice, looking at me. I was looking at the thing on his wrist and he follows my gaze. So do the others and Stakar goes over to his ship, coming back with the same thing all of them have on their wrists, but smaller plus a couple of other things.

He gently grabs my wrist and puts it on it. "You'll have to get Quill or Kraglin to set it to their frequencies for you. Mine's already on it." He turns my head slightly and places something behind each of my ears, making sure they stay in place. "Those'll grow with you. Kraglin and Quill each have the thing behind this ear, the other one's just for you. New tech." I press my fingers against the thing behind my right ear and a metal mask forms around my face with red discs for eyes, through which I can see other people's heat temperature.

"Awesome!" I gasp and press it again to make it disappear. "What's the other thing?" I look at Stakar and he shrugs, motioning for me to click it and find out. I carefully press it and a visor appears in front of my eyes. I look around and can read the names of the ships that were previously in different languages. "Whoa..." I breathe and look around still, finding it so cool. Someone presses it and makes it disappear. I spin and kinda glare at Quill. "Hey!" I cross my arms over my chest and wince very slightly as it hurts.

"Five minutes are done. Come on." He gently grabs my shoulder and follows the other three to the mess hall. We go up a flight of stairs and stand on a landing just above it. The entire crew was in there and were being loud.

"Lissen up! Cap'n has somethin' ta say!" Kraglin yells and everything goes quiet.

"I know I told y'all ya weren't ta touch this girl when we picked her up," Yondu says in an eerily calm voice and whistles sharply, his arrow appearing from under his jacket before he looks at me slightly.

"Who was it, Rogue?" Quill asks quietly, his lips barely moving, and I look around the crowd below us, spotting the guy. I carefully point him out to Yondu and he nods slightly, almost imperceptible. He whistles and his arrow guides the guy out with steady pressure on his back. He steps out from the crowd and freezes. Quill goes down to the mess hall and I watch, kinda hiding behind Yondu.

"Your Captain told you not to touch her and you did anyway?!" Quill bellows and I watch as he punches him in the face. The guy punches him back and I'm pissed.

"Hey! You fungus looking ass! Don't you dare fucking hit him again!" I yell, stepping out from behind Yondu, and everyone's eyes are on me.

"What'd you call me? Come say it to my face!" He growls and I start to head down the stairs, more pissed than scared now. Kraglin stops me and hands me his knife from yesterday that he pointed at me. I take it and put it in my back pocket for now as I continue down the stairs. The guy had his foot on Quill's chest and I pull the knife out of my pocket, holding it against my wrist.

"I called you a fungus looking ass."

"And you're a disgusting little Terran! Just like this slimeball!" He snarls and presses his foot harder against Quill's chest. I suddenly move forward and under his leg, cutting it to the bone. "Fuck!" He growls and falls backward, nearly onto Yondu's arrow. I'm suddenly on top of him with the curved part of the knife to his throat and he stills, staring at me.

"You were saying, smartass?" I growl and he says nothing. "What? You don't got anything else to say about me or him? You seemed to have plenty to say a minute ago!" I press the knife closer to his throat and he tilts his head up slightly. There's a whistle and the arrow is in front of me.

"Off 'a him, girl," Yondu says and I get off of him, backing up a bit. Quill is there and grabs my shoulders gently. "Which hand he use?" Yondu asks and I look up at him before nodding at his left hand. "Kraglin, git yer knife from tha' girl an' deal wit' him."

"Aye, Cap'n." He comes down the stairs and takes his knife from my hands, grabbing the yellow guy's left hand before cleanly slicing it off. The guy screams and holds it to him. I watch, not sure what else to do, and Quill squeezes my shoulders slightly.

"If another one 'a ya touch tha' girl, ya will get worse!" Yondu yells and looks at Kraglin, nodding his head towards the door slightly. "Take tha' idiot to med."

"Aye, Cap'n." He drags the guy out of the mess hall and it's completely quiet as Stakar and Yondu come down the stairs.

"Quill, git the girl some food." Quill nods and leads me over to the food line by my shoulders. He gets a tray for both of us and gets enough food for the two of us before heading to the table that Yondu and Stakar were sitting at. We sit and Kraglin sits after about ten minutes and getting his food. I look at my tray of food and blink.

"What. In the. Everloving. Fuck is this?" I ask and look at them. 

"Food. Eat up." Quill says and starts eating.

"Wow. Enlightening. Thank you, Star-Lord." I scoff and they look at me. "What?"

"What'd you just call me?"

"Star-Lord...? I saw it on your jacket this morning. Chill out."

"Nuh-uh. I ain't got Star-Lord anywhere on my jacket. Where the Hell did you hear that name?"

"My sister overheard you and your drunken escapade with our Mom one night. She heard you call yourself that." I shrug a bit and run a hand through my hair. I look at the food again and pick up something that doesn't _look_ like it'll kill me. "How much of this stuff has the chance of killing me?" Kraglin scoffs and shakes his head, eating his food. I glance at Quill out of the corner of my eye and mimic how he eats the stuff. _It isn't bad._ I eat the food, glancing at Quill now and then, and don't notice the other three watching the two of us for a while. Then both of us look up to look at them.

"What?" Quill asks around a mouthful of food and I roll my eyes, muttering something. He swallows the food and looks at me. "What was that?" He was smirking and I scoff slightly.

"I said, attractive. I bet you just reel the ladies in talking around mouthfuls of food all the time." I say from behind my hand and around a mouthful of food. He smirks at me and I roll my eyes. "I'm ten and a Ravager in training, so screw you, Dad," I mutter and he hears what I called him, barely keeping from grinning. "Shut up. I can hear your happiness and it's fucking loud."

"You know, at least I'm not swearing in every sentence like you are."

"At least I don't steal from my Dad," I smirk at him and he blushes before going back to eating. "Thought so," I smirk and go back to eating. Stakar shakes his head slightly and finishes his food.

"You aren't a Ravager in training or Ravager period until you have your Ravager leathers, kid."

"Oh, right! When do I get those?"

"Ya done?" I nod and Yondu leads me to drop the tray off at a cart before going to a room on the other side of the ship. "Ya git measured now." He smiles at me and leads me into the room with me following him.


	4. Chapter 4

I look around the room at all of the different colors of leather and other fabrics. "Awesome." I smile a bit and Yondu smiles a bit just as a guy with a bunch of fabrics and measuring tapes comes around the corner.

"Segs, ya min'?" He motions to me and the guy comes closer. He had a bunch of arms and was standing on two of them.

"Hello, my dear." He smiles at me and some antenna looking things come out of the sides of his head. He starts to measure me but it isn't easy because I keep moving my head to watch him, finding him interesting, and he chuckles softly. "Please hold your head still."

"Oh, sorry." I stop moving my head and wait for him to finish measuring me, looking around the room some more with just my eyes.

"Alright. I'll have your outfit ready shortly with a few changes of it." He says and wraps his measuring tapes around his shoulders before climbing up a wall to grab some maroon leathers.

"This place is insane..." I mutter with a small smile as I look around the room still and Yondu just leads me out of the room to take me back to the mess. "What was Quill like as a kid?" He laughs at that and I watch him.

"Girl, tha' is a mighty long lis'." He chuckles and leads me back to the table. "So, Quill, yer girl's askin' bout ya when ya were a lil' 'un." Quill's eyes widen and he looks at me.

"You... You don't want to hear about that stuff." He chuckles nervously, blushing slightly, and I smirk.

"Oh, now I gotta hear about it. Cuz you're blushing. You must've been an amazing kid." I smirk at him and he blushes more.

"Well, as your father, I'm saying you aren't going to hear it."

"Yondu overrules you." He opens his mouth a few times and I look at Yondu. "Come on, I wanna hear about the trouble he caused." He smirks that knife smirk at Quill then looks at me and nods.

"A'ight. One time, I caugh' the boy in m'bed wit' a girl when he were a teen." He says and my eyes widen a bit.

"Seriously?" He nods and I laugh, turning to Quill. "You took a girl to Yondu's room to try to have sex?" He just blushes more and shoves some more food in his mouth, making me laugh more. "That's amazing." My laughter slowly dies and I smile, looking at him. "You're insane." He shrugs and smiles at me as I turn to look at Yondu. "You didn't kill him?"

"Naw. I gave 'im a whuppin' he didn' fergit." He chuckles and Quill coughs next to me.

"Dad!" He hisses and Yondu laughs. I had my head hung with a hand covering my mouth and Quill nudges my shoulder. "You good, Rogue?" I nod and my shoulders were shaking slightly. "What?"

I lift my head and breathe slowly, trying to stop laughing. "You... You got your ass handed to you as a teenager... That's hilarious." He scoffs, blushing, and finishes eating.

"Well, I'd watch it if I were you. Yondu might hand your ass to you too." He smirks at me and I shrug a bit. "What, you ain't worried about it?" I shrug again and take a piece of food off of his tray, eating it.

"Not really, no." I put my elbow on the table and put my chin in my hand, noticing them looking at me. "I don't care what happens so long as I get food regularly, I'm good." I notice Quill looking at me, confused, and shrug. "My grandparents cared sometimes, just not enough to make sure they had food left for me after they ate most of the time. And they were drunk more often than not. That's when they really didn't care. They were decent enough, I guess. I wasn't on the street and had clean clothes, just not a lot of food. Plus, they kept my medicine stocked to keep me healthy enough. Mainly because my sister reminded them about it constantly." I scoff and run my fingers through my hair, yanking them through some knots.

"You should cut that," Stakar says and I nod my agreement. Kraglin gives me my pocket knife back and I open it grabbing the end of my hair before simply slicing through it.

"Ya coulda le' me cut it!" Kraglin says in shock and I shrug.

"This was easier." I close the knife and put it in my pants pocket with the clip on it, looking at him. "Where can I get a knife like yours?" He was taking a drink and coughs.

"Wha'? Why?" He coughs and I raise my eyebrow at him.

"You're able to cut a hand clean off with it. Do you know how helpful that would be? Especially if I learned how to fight with it?" He shrugs a bit and his coughing dies down.

"You might be able to find one from an arms dealer," Stakar says and I nod a bit.

"I only have Earth- I mean, Terra money, though. How would I pay for it?"

"I will," Quill says and thinks of something better. "Rocket might be able to make one. If he can make blasters and explosives, he should be able to make a knife like Krags." He taps the thing on his wrist. "Rocket."

_"What do you want, Quill?"_

"Would you be able to make a knife?"

_"I guess, why?"_

"Further precaution in case somebody gets the drop on me during a fight." He lies easily and waits for Rocket to respond.

_"Yeah, sure. I'll have it ready in an hour. Got any design?"_

"Like Kraglins. You gonna be able to do that?"

_"Course I will."_ He scoffs and there's a beep as the transmission is stopped.

"Smooth lie." He nods at me a bit and looks at me.

"Figured it might be better to lie than tell him the truth seeing as how he almost shot you."

"Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Everything else, you either do it or you don't. There's no almost. I think he's mainly pissed that I hit him. And you know it." He shrugs in response and looks at the scar on the back of my neck.

"What happened there?" I touch it and look at him.

"A whiskey bottle. The alcohol sterilized it as soon as it was in." I scoff and he narrows his eyes at me.

"Somebody hit you with a whiskey bottle?"

"Nope. They threw it at me and then it hit me. Kids are ruthless." I say simply and he scoffs.

"That seems to be an understatement." I shrug and he looks at me. "So, you're gonna be a Ravager?" He raises an eyebrow at me and I look at him.

"Yes. We've only been talking about it all morning, Quill." He nods a bit and there's a clatter before flashing lights are going off. "What the Hell is going on?!"

"The ship's on lockdown," Stakar says and there's someone over the intercom. 

_"Cap'n, we need you in controls!_ _"_ They yell and Yondu gets up, quickly going that way. Kraglin, Quill, and Stakar stand and follow.

"Stay here!" Quill yells over his shoulder at me and I scoff, following them anyway. The crew ignores me and continues to eat their food. I follow as quietly as I can and stay in the shadows of the control room.

"Kree..." Yondu says softly and presses a button as something pops up.

_"Battle Slave, we are here to take you back where you belong."_

"Sorry, boys. 'M where I belong." He snarls and I move slightly from the shadows behind him, the Kree's eyes landing on me.

_"What about that back there?"_ Yondu spins to glare at me and I look at him. He whistles and my hood is pinned to the wall before he turns around.

"Tha' girl is not fer ya." He growls loudly and I slip out of the hoodie, going over silently to some controls that look like a shooting arcade game. Kraglin sees me and comes over.

"Wha' are ya doin'?" He growls softly and I look at the control then look at the small ship out in front of us. "Ya think ya can shoot it down?!" He growls and I notice Stakar and Quill looking at us.

"Yes, I do. And there's only one way to find out for sure. Get back to the Captain and I'll deal with them." I say softly, feeling other crew members' eyes on us, and he looks at me.

"Quill, git ova' here." He nods Quill over and he comes over. "Help her take it down." He growls and he nods, leading me over to the controls. I press behind my ear and the visor shows up.

He pulls me over and puts my hands over the controls, covering them with his hands. He pulls up the crosshairs and helps me aim at the Kree ship.

_"Disengage your weapons or we will open fire on you ourselves."_ Yondu's eyes snap over to us and he glares.

"Turn them off, boy!" Quill quickly turns them off and Yondu glares at me. "Git out." He growls and I leave, grabbing my hoodie as I do. I go to the room with all of the ships, I think it's called a hangar, and go over to Quill's ship quickly and quietly. I see Gamora, the guy with red markings, and the lady with antennas get off of the ship.

"Rocket, keep an eye on Groot," Gamora says as she leaves and I quickly get on the ship, slowly going to the control.

"Hey!" Rocket yells and I turn to see him pointing the toy gun, blaster, at me. "Get the Hell off this ship!"

"Something named the Kree is here and want Yondu! I want to help but they won't let me! Please help me help them!" I yell back, worried for them, and he looks at me before nodding. "Show me how to shoot the weapons and you can fly, ok?" He nods again and leads me down to the weapons controls, showing me how to quickly.

"We're in lockdown, do you know how to get out?" He scoffs and leaves me. I sit in the chair and strap in. The ship starts up and I feel us start to move. The alarms finally stop and I watch as we go out of the ship quickly before the doors slam again. 

_"The lockdown is back on, but we're out. You better be able to take these Kree down and don't get us killed or I'm gonna kill ya."_ Rocket says over a speaker next to my head and I laugh nervously. He flies carefully behind the ship to get to the side of it and I put my hands on the controls, breathing slowly to settle my nerves. I carefully aim for one of the wings and hear the same voice from earlier telling us to disengage our weapons or they'll open fire on us in retaliation. I narrow my eyes and slam my hand on the speaker.

"Play Quill's music!" There's silence for a second before the music starts to play and I smirk. "Let's fucking do this, Rocket!" I reach to start firing when I see a warning pop up about us being aimed at and hear Yondu yelling at us.

_"Git yer asses back here!"_ I reach over and hit the speaker to respond.

"I have a clean shot to take out a wing, Captain! If I can shoot, they'll be sent down and-"

_"And they'll land on the planet below us, killing hundreds of people! Get your asses back in the hangar! NOW!"_ Quill yells.

_"They have ten seconds before we open fire and kill them."_ The Kree says in an eerily calm voice and I shudder slightly.

_"Don't! There's a kid on board!"_ Quill yells at the Kree.

_"Ten seconds starts now."_ The Kree says and I disengage the weapons before being jerked to the side at the suddenness of the ship moving.

"Rocket! Stop!" I yell at him over the speaker and there's nothing. "I am not going to let them take the damned Captain, Rocket! Help me destroy their damned ship!"

_"NO! You're going to shut up and let him fly!"_ Quill yells as there's a hologram of him next to Yondu in front of me and I glare at him, breathing heavily. _"Rogue, get your hands off of those damn controls! Now!"_ He growls at me and I glare at him.

"I am not letting them take him," I growl back and grab the controls tightly, aiming through the window of the Kree ship after engaging the weapons again.

_"Girl, git yer hands off them controls!"_ Yondu growls and I look at him. _"NOW!"_ He bellows and I flip the switches Rocket had switched, letting go of the controls.

_"Rocket, get in the damned hangar and don't let her off of the ship,"_ Quill says simply and the hologram disappears as we get into the hangar. The doors slam shut behind us and I stand, pissed. I go over to the bunk and punch something.

"Damnit!" I growl and sit on it, head in my hands. I take a couple of deep breaths and take my knife out of my pocket, flipping it open. I open and shut it repeatedly as I'm locked on the ship and wait for the others. I close the knife, keeping it closed, and spin it around my fingers as I wait for them, feeling like it's taking them hours. I look at Rocket and see that he's working on the knife.

"How's that coming?"

"It's coming." Is all he says and it's silent on the ship again, other than Quill's music. I sigh and lay back on the bunk, closing my eyes for a bit.

I stand up, more or less falling off of the bunk, when the big metal door opens and Yondu, Kraglin, Quill, and Stakar come on, all of them looking pissed. I stand from where I was crouched on the floor and grip my knife in my hand, heart racing. _Damnit, not the time._ I grip my knife tighter and try to get my heart rate to slow down, reaching up to turn the visor off. 

"Wha' the hell were ya thinkin', girl?!" Yondu suddenly yells and I barely keep from flinching, heart beating faster. I grip my knife tighter that my hand starts to shake and my knuckles were white. He notices and takes a step forward. "Ya scared, girl?" He growls and I stand straighter, looking him in the eyes. 

"Hell no," I say simply and loosen my grip on my knife, my heart rate slowing down.

"Ya should be." He whistles sharply and the arrow is flying for my face. I roll out of the way and crouch on the floor to see the arrow frozen while the others look at me. "Sure ya ain't scared?" He smirks at me and I stand.

"I'm sure." Quill starts to stalk towards me, very pissed off, and I barely manage to avoid him grabbing my arm.

"What the Hell were you thinking?!" He yells as Kraglin slams a button to shut us all in the ship and he tries to grab me again. I spin away and look at him.

"I was trying to help, Quill. I wasn't going to let them take Yondu or talk to him like he was somebody's property!" I growl, pissed too, and he glares at me.

"We weren't going to let them take him either, you idiot! We were waiting for reinforcements and you nearly blew it by getting blown up!" He yells and I glare at him, too pissed at how he's talking to me to feel bad.

"Don't pretend that you care! You just don't want the guilt of me dying! You don't give a shit about me!" He suddenly grabs me by the front of my hoodie and pulls me close to him.

"Don't you dare talk to me as if you know what I think. I don't care what you think about me, you don't know what I think or how I feel. So don't you dare pretend that you do." He growls and I glare at him. "We clear?"

"Screw you, Star-Lord," I growl back and he just pushes me onto the bunk, walking away from me. 

"Rocket, out," Quill growls and Rocket grabs Groot, leaving through the big door before it's shut again. He turns to look at me, pissed, and runs a hand through his hair. I open my mouth to say something and Stakar snaps.

"Not a word out you." He says simply and I shut up, clenching my jaw slightly. Quill paces a bit and my eyes follow him slightly. He stops and turns toward me.

"You nearly got yourself killed." He growls and looks at Yondu. "What would you have done if I did something this stupid?" He scoffs and looks at him.

"Ya would'a git whupped. She's jus' a lil' 'un. Yer gonna hafta figure it out, Son." They were talking softly and I was finally managing to calm down, everything hitting me hard. _I nearly died... I met my Dad... I have a whole huge family... Made up of aliens... And my sister's dead... I'm not on Earth anymore..._ I press the thing behind my right ear to make the mask form to hide my face and hold my head in my hands a bit, tears coming silently. _I'm on a spaceship with a bunch of aliens... And three of them are talking to my Dad as if I'm not even here about me... I nearly got killed by a ship of other aliens that called Yondu a battle slave... I tried to fight them with a raccoon..._ _On a smaller spaceship..._ My breath hitches and I wrap my hands around my head in the mask. _My sister's dead... So are my grandparents... I got beat up by a big yellow alien and cut his leg to the bone... Kraglin cut his hand off... I'm getting a knife from a raccoon... My... My sister..._ I let out a soft sob at that and someone touches my shoulder.

I jerk away and look up to see it's Quill. "Hey, calm down..." I scoot back to sit against the wall and pull my knees up to my chest. He sits on the bunk and watches me, not sure what else to do. My body shakes from my silent sobs and bury my head against my knees, starting to sob softly. He gently touches my shoulder and I look up slightly. He gently pulls me to him and wraps his arms around me tightly, turning the mask off. I bury my face in his shoulder and he holds me close.

"She... She's dead..." I whisper between sobs and he holds me tighter.

"It's gonna be OK..." He says softly to me and rubs my back. "I got you... Just... Just let it out, alright? It'll feel better after you have..." He whispers and I wrap my arms around him to cling to his jacket as I sob. He rubs my back still and lets me cry.

After a little while, I calm down and let him go to rub the tears away with my hoodie sleeve. He lets me go and gently grabs my face with both of his hands. I look at him a bit and he smiles gently at me. "It's going to get better... I promise..." I nod a bit and finish wiping the tears away.

"Sorry for being such a jerk..." I mumble, not looking at him, and he snorts, making me look at him.

"According to Yondu and Krags, I was the same way." He gently ruffles my hair and I smile a tiny bit. "Never tried to shoot a Kree ship down, though." He scoffs and I kinda shrug.

"I didn't want them to take Yondu away..."

"Why?" Yondu asks and I turn to see the others looking at me.

"You kept dragging me out of my burning house... And didn't leave my bag to burn... Besides, they sounded like asshats and you're too good of a Captain to be taken hostage by some asshats." I shrug and he laughs, nodding his agreement.

"Yer righ' 'bout tha'." I smile at him a bit and rub my sleeves across my face to clean it off fully.

"You just scraped by without getting whipped, Rogue. But only because you seem to be sorry and regret doing it. Right?" I shrug a bit and they gape at me a bit. "You don't regret doing it?"

"I didn't say that... I do... Kinda..." Quill crosses his arms over his chest and looks at me. "I regret that I made you guys worry and angry, but I don't really regret doing the action..."

"So you regret making us worry but not the thing that made us worry?" Quill raises an eyebrow at me and I nod.

"Exactly."

"Would you regret it if you got whupped?" I look at Quill and shake my head.

"No. I kind of regret not taking the shot to blow the asshats to bits."

"Ya would'a git whupped if ya did." Yondu growls and I look at him, thinking.

"Would've been worth it." I shrug a bit and he scoffs.

"Ya sure 'bout tha'?" I nod and he shakes his head. "Why?"

"You wouldn't have had to worry about them and they wouldn't have been able to get any word back to their leaders or whatever they have."

"They would've been waiting for the ship to get back and would send more when they weren't back," Stakar says and I mess with my sleeves a bit.

"I didn't think about that..." I mumble and don't look at them, looking at my lap instead. I look up at a snap and see Yondu watching me.

"There are two species you want to avoid at all costs. Kree and Skrulls." I nod and recognize the second one, looking at Yondu and Kraglin.

"You said that some Skrulls were at my house on Terra. Why?"

"What?!" Quill stands up and looks at the two of them. "Why were they on Terra?!"

"Sit down, boy!" Yondu yells and Quill sits back down. "They knew somthin' we didn' an' were there fer yer girl."

"They were gonna make her a battle slave?" Stakar asks and Kraglin nods. "Good thing your crew was there." I look between them and was confused.

"They were gonna what?" 

"They were gonna make you fight for your life for their amusement," Stakar says simply and I gape at them.

"So... They killed my family and you killed them to keep me safe from having to fight for my life against other species? So that they wouldn't be bored?" I ask carefully to make sure I understood and they nod. I nod slowly and suddenly punch the edge of the bunk, making Quill jump. "They killed my sister? You're sure about that?" Yondu nods and I punch the edge of the bunk again, making my hand bleed. "What do they look like?" I look at them and ignore my hand.

"They have green skin, yellow eyes, and green blood," Stakar explains and I nod.

"They can shapeshift," Quill adds and I nod a bit, taking a deep breath to calm a bit. "You OK?" I nod and look at my hand, just tearing off the collar of my shirt to wrap around it so it hopefully stops the bleeding. I go over to where Rocket was working on my knife and look at it then Kraglin.

"Can you teach me how to use this?" He nods and I nod back. "Good." Quill goes over and opens the door, letting Rocket on. He comes over to me and grabs the knife, spinning it in his hand a bit.

"It's done." He flips it and hands it to me by the handle. "Quill's a shitty liar." I take it and wrap my fingers around it, my other knife on the bed. "All I ask in return is your other knife." I grab it from the bunk and toss it to him.

"Go nuts." He catches it and tosses me a holster looking thing. Quill catches it and looks at it.

"For the knife. It goes on her shoulder like Kraglin's." 

"Captain." We all turn and see Segs with a handful of clothes made out of leather. "Her leathers are ready." I take the holster and slip the knife into it before going over to Segs. "I hope you enjoy them, dear." He grabs my hand and kisses it. I smile awkwardly and take them from him.

"Thank you." He smiles and leaves. Quill guides me to a room and opens the door.

"Get changed." I go inside and he shuts the door. I sigh softly and get changed into one of the outfits quickly. I look around but see no mirror and go back out to the others, bringing the other clothes too. I set them on the bunk at Quill's nod towards it and he grabs the jacket out of it, handing it to me. I take it and slip it on. Kraglin takes the holster and attaches it to my shoulders, making sure the handle came over my left shoulder.

"Grab it." He backs away and I grab the handle, sliding it out. "Not bad. Ya need ta work on the speed'a it." I nod and think. I take the holster off of my shoulders and take off the jacket, nodding a bit as I think. "Wha'?"

"If we adjusted the holster, I could put it on my thigh to be hidden by my jacket or to be put between my shoulders. If I get captured, it'd be the last resort and I'd be able to grab it and take someone down or as a hostage." I look at the holster then at Rocket and he looks at me. "Could you make me a second one?"

"Wha' fer?" Yondu scoffs and I look at him.

"Two is better than one." I look at Rocket and he was already getting started on a second one. "You got a thigh holster?" Quill motions for me to hang on and looks for one, grabbing it out of a drawer. He tosses it to me and I catch it, turning it over in my hands as I look at it. It matches my pants and I grab my knife, comparing the handle to the holster.

"Wha' ya doin'?" I look up to see Yondu looking at me and he comes over.

"If the handle matches the holster and the holster matches the pants, no one will know it's there. Not until I'm closer."

"No one better be getting close enough to see your damn thigh!" Quill growls and I roll my eyes slightly. 

"Not the point, Quill. No one will be able to tell I have a knife on my thigh until it's too late." He nods a bit and I look at Yondu. "Would Segs be able to adjust this to fit my thigh and the knife?" He nods and grabs my wrist, tapping a few things. He then motions for me to ask myself and I shrug a bit, tapping the final button.

_"Yes?"_ His voice comes from over it and I am a little surprised.

"Segs, would you be able to adjust a holster to fit my leg and a knife for me?"

_"Anything for you, my dear."_ I see Quill look angry and smirk a bit.

"Great. I'll be there in ten minutes with it."

_"I'll be waiting."_ I click the thing and it disconnects. I look at Rocket.

"How long until that one's done?" He looks at it and shrugs.

"Eight minutes." He shrugs and I nod, slipping my knife back in its holster. I slip my jacket back on and notice it doesn't have a flame on it.

"Where's the flame?" Yondu looks at me and just smiles. "Enlightening." I lean against a wall as I wait for Rocket to be done with the knife and listen to the music still playing.


	5. Chapter 5

"Done." Rocket says and hands me the second knife. I turn it over in my hands and nod at him.

"Thank you." He just nods back at me and I put my second knife in my back pocket for now. Yondu grabs the second holster and leads me to Segs. I follow and notice how people part for him, which is awesome.

We get to the room and Segs was waiting for both of us. Yondu gives him the holster and he takes it, looking at it. "I can make this fit your knife." He smiles at me and hands it to me. "Would you mind putting it around your thigh?" I do and he nods. I give it back to him and he makes some more holes so I can tighten or loosen it as I need before starting to adjust the holster. "May I see the knife?" I take it out of my pocket and hand it to him. He slips it into the holster and adjusts it around the knife before handing it back to me. I put it on my thigh and slip the knife out before putting it back in.

"Anything else I can do for you, my dear?" I nod and show him the second holster.

"Can you make this so it can be between my shoulders?" He looks confused and I take my jacket off to show him what I meant, putting the holster near the base of my skull between my shoulders. "Like this?" He nods and takes the holster to adjust it. I watch and wait. Yondu grabs a patch and my jacket from my hands.

"Tradition. Cap'n sews new Ravagers flames on." He explains and starts to sew it on. I glance between the two of them and Yondu's done first. He hands me my jacket and I look at my flames. It looked similar to his but had his arrow and Kraglin's knife crossed over each other in the middle of the flames and I run my fingers over it.

"Thank you, Captain." I hold it and see Segs walking over with the adjusted holster.

"Here you are, my dear." He smiles and hands it to me. I slip my arms into it and buckle both of the sides before slipping my jacket on. I reach behind my head and grab the knife, slipping it out easily. "I designed it to be turned to the side slightly so it's easier to grab without your head in the way." I slip it back in and nod. "As well as padding to make it easier to put back in."

"Thank you." I smile at him a bit and look at Yondu. "What's next Captain?" 

"I show ya 'round. Segs, boots?"

"Right!" He grabs a pair of boots and hands them to me. "Here you are, my dear." I take them and take my tennis shoes off, slipping the new boots on. I zip them up and tie them tightly, nodding a bit.

"Thank you again, Segs." He smiles at me and moves to do something else away from me. I turn and see Yondu walking out, quickly following him. "When do I get a blaster and learn to shoot it?" I ask and he stops, looking at me. "What? I need to be close to use the knives, me having and knowing how to use a blaster is a good idea." He keeps walking and I walk slightly behind me.

"If ya git one, ya don' use it on yer crew." I nod and he glances at me.

"Got it, Captain." He nods and leads me into a room with weapons. I follow and he grabs a small blaster along with a hip holster. He tosses the holster to me and I catch it after fumbling for a second before putting it around my waist. He gives me the blaster and I put it in the holster carefully.

"Ya use tha' on yer crew, 'm gonna give ya a whuppin' ya won' fergit."

"Got it, Captain." I nod a bit and he nods back before showing me around the ship as he also explains the code.

"Rule one, y'can steal from anyone except yer own. Ravagers don' steal from each other. Rule two, no killing on board the ship. Unless it's me makin' an example. Or there's a damn good reason. Ya got a problem with somebody, ya settle it planetside. Rule three, we steal fer a livin'. We sell wha' we steal. No sentient beings, no kids. Rule four, same as three but with sex. Nothin' ya need to know 'bout right now, but down the line. The crew only goes ta robot brothels. Don' tell yer Daddy I told ya 'bout it." He looks down at me and I nod. "Good."

He finishes up the tour in the mess and looks at me. "Ya hungry?" I nod and he leads me over to get some food. I grab a tray and he gives me food since I can't reach it. He leads me to the table and I sit to his left. Kraglin was already eating across from me and I look around a bit, seeing Stakar coming up with his own tray. I turn back around and notice Yondu and Kraglin looking at me. "Wha' ya lookin' fer?"

"Where's Quill?" I ask and start to eat.

"Awe, you miss me already?" Quill asks suddenly from behind me and I spit my food onto Kraglin, startled. Quill starts to laugh and I blush a bit.

"Ah, sorry about that, Kraglin..." I mumble and he wipes it off of his face, throwing it at Quill as he sits.

"Dude! Gross!" He throws it onto his tray and I eat. "So, Kraglin, when are you going to make a kid?" Quill asks suddenly and I look up to look at Kraglin, whose face was blue.

"Shut up, Quill." He mutters and starts eating. I furrow my eyebrows at him and he looks at me. "Wha?"

"Your face is blue." He nods slowly and I notice that he's not choking so I guess why. "Are you blushing?" His eyes widen and his face gets a bit bluer before he just puts his head down as he eats. "Cool." I continue to eat and notice that Quill's smiling. "What?" I ask around a mouthful of food with my hand in front of my mouth and he chuckles.

"You took him blushing blue a lot better than I did. I thought he was choking." He smirks and I swallow my food, turning to look at him.

"He's still able to talk and eat. He obviously wasn't choking, Quill." I roll my eyes and turn back around to continue eating. "You just sound like your head wasn't screwed on right when you were a kid." He scoffs at that and eats himself. Yondu looks at the two of us and shakes his head, eating.

"The two a'ya are jus' like the other," Kraglin says and I look at him then Quill, who does the same.

"Nah, I'm better looking," I smirk at him and go back to eating. Yondu and Stakar laugh while Kraglin shakes his head and Quill looks insulted. Gamora had heard and leans over to peck Quill's cheek.

"You are very attractive, Peter." He smiles at her and blushes a bit as he eats. I smirk as I think of something and Quill sees.

"Don't you even start that, kid." He mutters at me and I smirk more.

"Quill and Gamora, sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Fir- Eep!" I yelp when he suddenly has me in a headlock and is messing up my hair.

"What were you saying?" He chuckles and I shove at his head, deciding to continue.

"First comes love, then comes marriage. Then comes baby in a baby carriage!" I laugh and he tightens his arm around my head.

"You little twerp!" He huffs and pushes my head away, blushing a lot. I laugh and Yondu, Kraglin, and Stakar do too.

"Awe, it's ok, Petey." I tease gently and gently pat his arm. He just lightly shoves my head away and I laugh, smiling brightly.

"You have a very nice smile." The man with red markings says and I look at him, smiling a bit. "I am Drax the Destroyer. But you may call me Drax."

"That was the plan." I laugh a bit and see the woman with antennas next to him, smiling at her a bit. "Hello."

"Hello. I am Mantis, it is nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Mantis. I'm Rogue." I smile and she looks at me before smiling back.

"So you are Peter's daughter?" She asks and I nod a bit.

"So I'm told."

"Where do you think she got her good looks from?" He wraps an arm around me and I roll my eyes.

"Her mother, clearly," Drax says and I snort as I laugh. I clear my throat and stop fairly quickly, folding my hands on the table as I look at Drax.

"Ye-" I clear my throat to keep from laughing again and school my expression to look serious. "Yes, I did. I had to have at least one attractive parent." Quill scoffs and shoves my head again. "Awe, come on, Quill. Lighten up." He rolls his eyes and talks to Gamora.

"It's true, Quill looks like me if I were shaved." Rocket says as he hops onto a seat next to Stakar and I look down as my shoulders shake from silent laughter.

"Hey!" I laugh more and lift my head to look at Quill as I try to stop.

"He's not wrong. You... You kinda... You kinda do look like a shaved rat." I laugh and he rolls his eyes.

"It's not that funny."

"It's funny to me." I smile and slowly stop laughing, breathing slowly. "God... I don't think I've ever laughed that much... Thanks for being a good sport." I smile at him and he shrugs, continuing to eat. I turn and finish my food too. 

"You know, kid, you're starting to grow on me." Rocket says and I look at him.

"So does cancer." The table goes silent and I look around. "What?" I look at Quill and he looks pissed as he turns to look at me.

"Don't ever say anything having do with that again." He growls and I just nod, not sure what else to do. He stands and leaves the mess. I look at Yondu and Kraglin.

"What just happened?"

"His mother died of brain cancer because of his father, Ego, before Yondu picked him up on Terra," Drax says as Gamora stands to go find Quill and I nod a bit.

"I didn't know... That's just something I say..." I mutter and kinda watch the door to see if Quill and Gamora come back in as I eat.

I'm just about done eating when Quill and Gamora come back in and sit down again, Gamora sitting between the two of us. I look at Quill a bit and open my mouth slightly to say something but close it again when nothing comes to mind that wouldn't be lame. I finish eating and put the tray on the cart before leaving the mess, glancing at Quill for a moment. I stop by my room and grab my Walkman before going to the hangar, slipping the headphones on as I play the tape from the beginning. I go over to his ship and try to figure out a good apology, deciding to get on his ship. I turn my music up and carefully move things to look everything over, moving quietly so I don't disturb Groot, who's sleeping in a big pot.

I'm in Quill and Gamora's room, bent over a desk when I feel a blaster at my back. I pause my music and slowly grab my blaster, pulling it out as I spin. All that happens with it is that it goes flying and I'm face to face with Rocket while the others were behind him. "What the Hell are you doing in here?!" He growls and I shove my headphones around my neck.

"I'm not stealing anything." I try to push Rocket's blaster away when Yondu whistles and his arrow is right in front of me. "Alright, that's getting fucking annoying!" I growl and look at him. "I am not stealing anything." Yondu gently pushes Mantis towards me and she grabs my hands as colors flash before my eyes.

"She is telling the truth. She is also upset. Angry and sad." Yondu whistles and his arrow goes back under his jacket.

"What are you doing in here then?" Quill asks, glaring at me, and I run a hand through my hair, muttering something under my breath. "What was that?" He growls and I look at him.

"I was trying to find a way to apologize to you, asshat," I growl back and he looks surprised. "I didn't know about your mom and I felt bad. I couldn't think of a way to apologize so I came to find one and now you're being an ass. I'm sorry about your mom and I'm sorry that I brought up bad memories. Let me make this even easier." I glare at him and he looks at me. "I'm sorry that you ever had to meet me," I growl and grab my blaster before leaving the ship, shouldering my way through the others as I put my blaster back in its holster.

Someone grabs me before I get to the door and spins me around. I come face to face with Quill and he looked like he felt bad. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have reacted like that. It's still a sore subject. My father planted brain cancer in my Mom and she died before Yondu picked me up. Then he tried to kill me a while back. Did anything happen in Missouri? On Terra?"

"Some blue goo covered a store there." I rub my face as the others come in and he tenses a bit. "I'm sure they got it cleaned out, Quill."

"That was Ego. We all have some pretty shitty fathers, kid. We're trying to be better than them." He says and just barely motions to Kraglin and Yondu.

"I'm going to say something nice and if you make a big deal out of it, I'll stab you in the foot," I tell him and he looks at me, nodding his understanding. "If I were to be similar to you, I'd be a good person and you would've done a good job." I look at him and he looks so happy. "Hey! No! I said don't make a big deal out of it!" He just smiles and hugs me. "Alright, I take it back! Let go of me!" I push at him and he chuckles as he lets me go. I straighten my jacket up and he ruffles my hair.

"You're a pretty good kid, Rogue."

"Yeah, yeah... Shut up..." I mutter and fix my hair, able to feel him radiating happiness. "Ugh... Your happiness is giving me a headache..." I grumble and get off of the ship, smiling a bit as I hear Quill yell and laugh. "You're a pretty decent Dad, Quill..." I mutter and continue through the ship.

\------

"Hell yeah!" Quill laughs and was smiling brightly. Yondu rolls his eyes and follows me, followed by Kraglin. Quill grabs Gamora's hand and starts to dance with her. Stakar chuckles and gets off of the ship too. Quill dances with Gamora and couldn't get rid of his smile.

\-----

I slip my headphones back on and play my music, currently in an abandoned part of the ship that seemed to be a gym. I look around carefully and smile a bit when no one else is around. I didn't want to go back to my room quite yet and turn the music up loud. I nod my head along to the music a bit and look around one more time before starting to dance a bit at first.

Near the end of the song, I'm dancing with a small smile and spin on my heel, thinking I see a flash of blue during it. I freeze and turn to look at the door, seeing no one. I push my headphones around my neck and pull my knife out of my thigh holster, holding the tip of the blade. I then attempt to throw it into the hallway and it clatters to the floor instead of sticking to the wall.

"Gods!" Someone yells and I grab my other knife, quietly going towards the door. I quickly step out and point my knife at-

"Yondu?!" I quickly put my blade up and look at him. "What in the Hell are you doing spying on me?!" He looks down at me and then at my knife. I grab it and slide it into my holster again.

"It's m'ship." He says simply and I notice Kraglin was there too. "Nice moves, girl." He smirks at me and I blush a bit.

"They were not and I'm going to go to my room."

"Sure they was. Ya jus' need some help." He smiles at me and gently pushes me back into the gym. "Krags, ya git one'a them things in here?" He nods and looks at me.

"Yer music." I look at him and hand it to him. He takes the tape out and takes it over to the wall, pushing it into something then pressing a button. My music starts to play around me and Yondu chuckles.

"Yer music is like Quill's music." He looks at me and shuts the door to the gym before showing off some moves.

"You can dance?!" I look at him and he snorts.

"'Course I can. Wha'? Ya sound shocked."

"Well... I am." He rolls his eyes and nods over to Kraglin who was also showing off some moves. "Nice!" I smile and nod my head along with the music a bit.

"Let loose, girl!" He chuckles and I smile shyly, dancing a bit. "Tha's it!" He smiles and I listen to the song, letting it course through my body. I start to dance more, my body moving on its own, and try to spin but end up falling on my ass. "Ya a'ight, girl?" Yondu chuckles and I laugh, nodding as I get up.

"Kraglin!" He looks at me and raises an eyebrow. "You got some time to spare to teach me to fight with the knives?" He nods and comes over to me. I take my knife out of my thigh holster and he shows me how to hold it properly as the music continues to play around us.

He shows me all of the basic moves and some harder moves until he's satisfied. He then starts to show me how to fight in hand to hand combat and I copy his moves. He suddenly crouches down and swipes his leg at my ankles, making me fall with a grunt. I look at him and he helps me up.

"Show me how to do that!" He chuckles and shows me how to do it. I watch carefully and copy him exactly. He nods a bit when he's satisfied and has me stand. I do and he starts to circle me. I turn to keep him in my line of sight, vaguely noticing Quill with Gamora.

"No one's going to pull punches out there, so he isn't going to pull his in here!" Quill warns and I barely nod, getting in the stance Kraglin taught me. He suddenly throws a punch at me and I block it, not noticing the second fist until it's too late to do anything. I fall on my ass with a grunt and run my tongue over my teeth slightly as I stand up.

I get back into the stance and move carefully to keep him where I can see him. He gets out of his stance and nods, offering his hand to me. I narrow my eyes and he nods to it. I take it and he yanks me over to him, pinning me to his chest with his knife to my throat. "People are gonna fight dirty, too. You're gonna have to get used to it." Quill calls from the door and I nod a bit, thinking for a moment.

I suddenly tilt my hips to the side and throw my elbow into his groin, making him let go of me with a groan. "Tha' was a lil' too dirty, kid..." He groans and drops to his knees, in a lot of pain.

"Sorry. It worked, though." I feel hands wrap around me and I'm thrown across the room, hitting the wall with a grunt. "OK, I get I'm small, but I'm not a damned rag doll." I get up carefully but quickly, seeing Yondu smirking. I get my knife out of my holster and throw it at him. He whistles and his arrow knocks it to the side away from the others.

"Nice try, girl." He chuckles and whistles, making his arrow slowly move around the room. "Avoid this." I look confused before he whistles sharply and his arrow is coming at me quickly.

"Shit!" I yell and quickly grab my other knife to push it away as I move to the side. Kraglin was up and moving towards me. I roll away as quickly as I can and crouch on the floor, watching them.

"Not bad, Rogue!" Quill gives me a thumbs up and I smile a bit, getting distracted. There's a whistle and I barely roll out of the way before the arrow is flying sharply past me, brushing against my leg. I laugh a bit and they look at me, concerned and confused.

"You people are insane! And I love it!" I smirk at them and put my knife up before getting in a fighting stance. I bend my fingers slightly at Kragllin and he moves towards me after a slight push from Quill. He gets over to me and starts to get in his own stance but doesn't get to fully as I kick at his knees. He catches my leg and flips me onto the floor. I grunt softly and turn, kicking him in the chest so I can stand. He stumbles backward and advances toward me again, throwing a punch. I duck it and barely manage to dodge a punch at my face.

Yondu whistles and his arrow is between us, stopping us. Kraglin looks over at the door and stands straight, pounding his hand over his heart twice. I quickly stand beside him and see a woman with her hair in a bun. "What did I just walk in on?" She looks at me then at Yondu and back at me. "Who are you?" She crooks a finger at me and I step forward, standing straight still. "Are you a Ravager? Start answering my questions. Or are you mute?" My head is spinning for a moment as I try to figure out which question to answer first and blink for a moment.

"No, Ma'am. I'm not mute. Kraglin and I were practicing hand to hand combat. My name is Rogue and I'm a Ravager under Captain Udonta, Ma'am." I pound my fist over my heart twice and bow my head slightly. I lift my head and she looks at me.

"Are you a Xandarian?"

"A what?"

"Krags is one." Quill supplies and quickly shuts up when she looks at him.

"Oh. No, Ma'am. I'm a Terran."

"Who are your parents? Which one of them is a Ravager? Why are you here instead of on Terra? Who brought you here? How-"

"OK! Please slow down!" I say a bit louder than necessary and everyone looks at me like I'm insane, except for the woman. I take a deep breath and look at her. "I was brought on board by Captain Udonta. Skrulls killed my family and were planning to sell me into slavery. Peter Quill is my father and the Ravager of my parents. My mother is dead and I sadly don't remember her name. I have been on the _Eclector_ since last night and I'm ten Terran years. Please, one question at a time from here on out." I look at her and she nods.

"What is your real name?"

"I left that on Terra with the rest of my life. My new name is Rogue."

"What is your last name?" She asks and I kinda laugh.

"I'll let you know when I figure it out myself."

"Just pick the name of who you admire most in this room." Quill's face falls and I notice, rubbing my face a bit.

"That's much easier said than done, Ma'am. I admire all three of the men in this room, even though I've only known them since last night."

"Why?" 

"The Captain helped me meet my father, Kraglin is helping me learn how to defend myself, and Quill is my father as well as a good man." I see Quill smile a bit but quickly school his expression when the woman turns to look at him and she turns back to me.

"You seem to have quite the predicament, then."

"Yes, Ma'am, I do."

"Well. I am Captain Aleta Ogord. It has been a pleasure to meet and learn about you, Rogue. I hope we meet again soon."

"So do I, Captain Ogord." I bow my head slightly and she bows hers back before she leaves.

As soon as she's out the door, I fall to the floor and my brain felt fried. "Whoa! Rogue! You OK?" Quill asks as he comes over to me and I give him a thumbs up.

"So... Many... Questions..." I mutter and close my eyes, rubbing my forehead slightly. "My brain feels like it's been on a stove." Quill chuckles and pulls me into a sitting position. I open my eyes and look at him, seeing him smiling a lot.

"What's with the grin, Dopey?" He suddenly hugs me tightly and I try to push him away for a moment before stopping. I wrap my arms around him and pat his back gently. "Can you let me go, now? Oxygen is not a suggestion." He lets me go and smiles at me. "Yes, I said you were a good man and my father and that I admire you. Congratulations." I was trying to keep up walls that kept me from hurting and he kept knocking them down at every twist and turn.

"And I appreciate that. A lot." He smiles at me and I smile back a bit. He lets me go and I stand, going to get my tape. "What are you doing?" I wave my hand at him and take my tape out, putting it back in my Walkman. Yondu's wrist thing beeps and he taps it.

_"Cap'n, preparing to land on Contraxia."_ Somebody says through it and he nods.

"Good." He taps the thing and it's disconnected, looking at me. "Ya git some clothes to wear." He nods his head towards the door and I leave, going to my room.

Waiting on my bed was a heavier version of my Ravager jacket, a hat, scarf, and some gloves. All of them had a copy of my flame patch on them and I slip them on. I look at my door and see Quill standing there. "Yondu wants us in the control room to strap in." I nod and follow him to the control room, the one with the huge window. He sits in a chair behind Yondu and straps in. I notice Kraglin in a chair too and sit in one myself, also strapping in. Yondu lands the ship finally and I look out the window to see snow on the ground.

"Cool..." I murmur and undo the straps before starting to follow Quill. Someone grabs the back of my coat and I turn to see Yondu and Kraglin looking at me.

"Ya stay by me, Kraglin, or Quill, girl. Git it?" I nod and he looks at me.

"Got it, Captain." He nods and heads off of the ship with Kraglin. I stay close to them and follow them off of the ship.

Once we're on the ground, I crouch down and scoop some snow into my hands, forming it into a ball. I aim for Quill and throw it, missing terribly as I hit Yondu in the back of the head. He freezes and turns to look at me and some other Ravagers. "Who threw tha'?" He growls and all hands point to me before he glares at me. I chuckle nervously and shrug a bit before bolting towards Quill. "No ya don'!" He growls and chases after me, Kraglin hot on his heels.

I skid around Quill and hide behind his legs. "You OK Rogue?" I look at him then at Yondu and Kraglin who had stopped a couple of feet away and he follows my gaze. "I see..." He nods slowly and steps out of their way.

"What the Hell, man?!" I gape at him and see Yondu smirk.

"You'll be fine." He says simply and I look at him.

"He looks like he's going to eat me!"

"No, he won't. That's just an empty threat." 

"WHAT?!" I yell and get hit in the face with a snowball hard enough I get knocked to the ground with a grunt. I sit up and see Yondu cackling. 

"Ya should'a seen yer face!" He cackles and I wrap my scarf tighter around my face before running at him, throwing myself at his knees. He falls with a grunt and drags Kraglin with us. Right down a hill, I hadn't noticed.

When we stop, Yondu looks at me and smirks his knife smirk at me before he picks me up, throwing me into a pile of snow. I kinda squeak and land in the middle of it. I climb out of it and spot Quill at the top of the hill. "Captain! I'm gonna catch up with Quill!" I holler over to him and he nods as he stands before helping Kraglin up. I go up the hill and look around for Quill, spotting him going into a bar.

"Damn." I start to head back down the hill but see a couple of familiar faces in the crowd and they smile at me before running off. I follow quickly and don't notice Rocket following close behind me with Groot. "Kat? Mom?" I pause in the crowd and look around again, seeing them turn a corner. I follow and then past a few more corners before we stop. "Kat! Mom!" I start to go toward them but they turn and I freeze when their eyes aren't blue. They're yellow.

They're suddenly on top of me and knock me out. The last thing I see is Rocket come around the corner and he starts blasting people.

I come too a while later and I'm being held up with an arm around my waist and a knife to my chin while Kraglin is in front of me with Yondu, Quill, and some other people from the crew. I try to keep my eyes open but I have blood dripping down into them and squint a bit. Kraglin notices but doesn't do anything yet and I hear the one holding me say something but I can't understand it.

"I ain't gonna be a battle slave 'gain. So ya can screw yerself." The one holding me presses the knife tighter to my throat and I force my body to stay slightly lax while I carefully move to grab my knife from my thigh, slowly slipping it out. I move quickly and stab them in their leg.

They yell and drop me. I roll away and crouch, looking at them. I see my Mom and sister again and stand, tightening my hand around my knife handle.

"Come on, sis. Don't you want to come with us?" Kat asks and I grab my other knife.

"Take off my sister's face, you filthy cunt bucket!" I snarl at them and they growl back, launching themselves at me. There's a whistle and Yondu's arrow is piercing through their chest before also launching through my Mom's chest. I put a knife back and wipe the blood away from my face, pissed at myself as I put my other knife up. "Damnit..." I mutter to myself and take my hat off, running my other hand through my hair.

Quill crouches in front of me and looks at my face. "You're bleeding." I look at him and kinda laugh.

"You don't fucking say? I thought that it was spit." I growl sarcastically and he scoffs, squeezing my shoulder slightly. 

"You OK?" I look over at the bodies and see the green blood, laughing a bit.

"I got tricked by Skrulls looking like my Mom and sister. What the Hell do you think, Quill?" He nods his head a bit and stands, keeping his hand on my shoulder. I wipe more blood from my face and take a deep breath, trying to calm down even if it's just a little bit.

"Let's get you to med." He leads me back to the ship and I walk next to him. Yondu makes eye contact with me as I pass him and he looked kinda mad but I keep my head up, not going to show fear in front of the crew. Quill squeezes my shoulder a bit and gets onto the ship with me, leading me to med. He gets me up on a bed and I take off my gloves and coat while he goes to get the Doc.

They both come back after a minute and Doc works on patching my head up after cleaning it up as the ship takes off. Yondu comes in as Doc's working on it and watches them finish up. "Both'a ya out." He growls once my head's patched up and Doc leaves while Quill looks between the two of us. "Boy, git out." He squeezes my shoulder a bit and leaves. Yondu shuts the door and looks at me as he comes over. I watch him sit on the bed across from me and he just watches me silently.

"I'm sorry that I didn't stay next to you, Kraglin, or Quill, Captain... I saw them and... I just..." I sigh and rub my face a bit. "I wanted them to be alive... So badly... I'm sorry..." I don't look at him for a short moment as I talk but look up as I apologize again and he looks at me. 

"Ya miss 'em?"

"A lot... But that doesn't give me the right to ignore your orders... I'm truly sorry, Captain." He nods and looks at me, studying my face. I manage to maintain eye contact with him and he nods again.

"Yer gonna be busy, girl." He says before standing and going out of the med. I stay on the bed, not sure what else to do, and Kraglin comes in after a minute.

"Ya git ta have some fun jobs, kid." He chuckles and nods for me to follow him. I get off the bed and follow him.

"Oh, hang on a second." I take my warm clothes to my room, dumping them on my bed, and grab my jacket, sliding it on since I had left it on the ship. I meet Kraglin outside of my room and he rolls his eyes a bit but was smiling. "What jobs am I doing?" 

"Cleanin' the vents." He smirks down at me and I nod a bit.

"That should be easy enough... Right?" He just chuckles and I nod a bit. "Awesome..." He leads me to the first vent and had something to help me clean it.

"Ya ready?"

"As I'll ever be. Let's get this done." He nods and crouches with his hands folded. I carefully put a foot in his hands and he stands, lifting me towards the vent. I try to pry the vent cover off and get hit in the face with it when it suddenly flies open, knocking me onto the floor. 

"Ya a'ight?" I nod and rub my chin where it hit me a bit, motioning for him to help me up again.

"Let's get this done." He crouches down and we do it again. I drag myself into the vent and take the thing he hands me. "What is this?"

"Somethin' ta help clean." I roll my eyes slightly and activate my mask to keep dust out of my face. He explains how it works and I follow his instructions.


	6. Chapter 6

With the help of Kraglin, I get about half of the ship's vents cleaned out by the time Quill comes to find me and tell me it's time to go to bed. "I've only got about half of the ship left. I'll go to bed once it's done." I tell him and start to head to the next vent when I'm stopped with a hand in my jacket, turning to see Yondu.

"Lissen ta yer Daddy, girl. Git ta bed. Them vents will be there when ya wake up." He says and I nod a bit.

"I get that, Captain. I just want to get it done so I can help with some other stuff tomorrow." 

"Tha's too bad. Bed. Git." He nods towards my room and takes the machine that I used for cleaning the vents. "An' take tha' mask off." I press behind my ear and the mask deactivates. "Bed." 

"Good night, Captain." I go to my room and vaguely realize that Quill was following me. "I can get to my room on my own, Quill."

"I want to make sure you go there instead of working on any more vents." He says simply and opens my bedroom door. "Night, Rogue."

"Night, Quill." I shut my door and go over to my bed, sitting on it. I silently count the seconds until an hour has passed.

Once an hour has passed, I quietly get out of my bed and go out of my room, looking around the hallway a bit. I quietly go out into the hallway and towards the control room, figuring Yondu probably put the machine in there. I look around a bit and go towards a door that I guess is just a storage room, pressing some random buttons until it opens. I quietly go in and hear someone moving around up a flight of stairs. I see a counter in front of a lot of drinks and go over to hide under it quickly.

Footsteps come down the stairs and I carefully move to see who it is, knocking over a bottle. It smashes to the floor and the three people in the room quickly turn towards it just as I duck back into the hiding spot, trying to think quickly. I try to move away from the spot but am caught from behind by one of the people and throw my elbow into their side, making them let me go. I activate my mask and can see the three people's heat signatures, staying away from them as I walk as quietly as possible towards the door before I see the machine.

I grab it and bolt towards the door, flinging it open before running back to my room as I deactivate my mask. As I was cleaning the vents, I had seen where all the cameras near my room were and avoid them to the best of my ability. I run into my room and slam the door shut behind me, shoving the machine under my bed followed by my warm clothes. I yank my boots off and toss them onto the floor before diving into bed, under the blankets. I close my eyes just before my door opens and I force my body to relax, breathing slowly. I hear people moving around my room and sit up, rubbing my eyes before looking at the people in there.

"What are you guys doing in here?" I look at Yondu, Kraglin, and Quill and they look at me. "It's a little creepy."

"Someone broke into Yondu's room and took the machine you were using to clean the vents. You know anything about that?" I blink a bit and was shocked that the room I went into was Yondu's room.

"Not a clue. I've been in here since you escorted me here, Quill. And I fell asleep about ten minutes after you left." Yondu flips on the light suddenly and I squint my eyes.

"Why are you still wearing your Ravager leathers then?" Quill raises an eyebrow at me and I roll my eyes slightly, getting off my bed to grab the only other clothes I had.

"These are the only other clothes I have and the leathers are a whole Hell of a lot more comfortable than this stupid school uniform. The shirt chokes me and the pants are too tight."

"Wha' 'bout yer jacket?"

"It gets cold in here and I want to be able to sleep decently." I wasn't technically lying because those were the only clothes I had from Terra and they were uncomfortable plus it does get cold in there.

"Ya won' mind if we look fer it, then," Yondu says and starts looking around my room.

"Not at all. It isn't going to be in here, though." Quill picks me up and puts me on my bed before looking around the room with Yondu and Kraglin. Kraglin gets on the floor and looks under my bed. "It's just my coat, scarf, hat, and gloves under there," I tell him and he drags them out before pulling the machine out from under my bed.

"You were saying?" Quill narrows his eyes at me and I manage to look shocked.

"I have no clue how that got under there." I look at them and can tell they don't buy it. "I swear on my grandmother's grave." Quill scoffs and starts laughing. I look at him, confused, and notice Kraglin and Yondu were also grinning. "Am I missing something?"

"Not bad, girl. Ya need ta work on yer lies." Yondu smirks at me and pats my shoulder.

"Ya hit me in m'side," Kraglin says and I look at him. "The same way ya did durin' trainin'." He smirks at me and I look offended. 

"I was in here, sleeping." Quill rolls his eyes and crosses his arms.

"We know it was you, Rogue. Drop the act."

"What act?" I glare at him and see him start to buy it before noticing my jacket and bed were wet.

"What's that from?" He comes over to me and sniffs my arm.

"Dude! Don't smell me! That's fucking weird!" I shove him away and he was smirking. "What?"

"A bottle of Yondu's favorite drink got broken. And it smells just like what's on your jacket." He explains and I open my mouth to explain it away but can't think of anything so I shut it again. "What? Don't have a way to explain it away?" 

"Shut up, you damned Cheshire cat. And I don't have to explain anything away because I wasn't in Yondu's room. I don't know how it got on my jacket or my bed."

"Wow. Yer really stickin' with tha', ain't ya?"

"Yes, because it's the truth."

"No, it ain't."

"What makes you think that?" Kraglin starts tapping things on his wrist thing and a video of me running from Yondu's room with the machine under my arm as I deactivate my mask. I watch it and he turns it off, all of them looking at me. I think quickly as they stare at me and are smirking.

"I must've been sleepwalking." I shrug and Quill looks at me.

"Have you ever done that before?"

"I don't know, I'm sleeping when I do it." He rolls his eyes and seems to buy it. 

"Ya was awake," Kraglin says and I look at him as he pulls it up again. He presses a few things and my heart rate shows that it wasn't what it would be if I were sleeping. I furrow my eyebrows a bit and they look at me, waiting.

"Well... Damn... If it weren't for that bottle, would you have noticed?" I look at Yondu and he shakes his head. "Damn! Undone by a bottle. And I was gonna put it back after I was done with the vents. So, it wouldn't have been stealing. I didn't know it was your room..." He chuckles and shakes his head.

"How didn't you figure that out when it didn't open?" I shrug.

"All the other doors were already opened so I just keep pushing buttons until it worked. I'm not good at hacking."

"Yer a good liar," Yondu says and I shrug a bit.

"You need to work on sneaking. Lucky for you, you'll be getting training once the vents are cleaned. And since you seem to be so eager to finish them, let's go." Quill grabs the machine and looks at me.

"Yondu told me to go to bed..." He scoffs and I glare at him.

"You didn't seem to care earlier. Let's go." He goes towards my door and opens it, turning to look at me.

"Y'know, I'm suddenly exhausted. We can get started first thing tomorrow." I tell him and he rolls his eyes, coming back over. He crouches down and shoves my feet into my boots. "Hey!" I try to yank my foot away and he catches it, shoving it into my boot. He zips them both up and simply picks me up to throw me over his shoulder. "HEY! Put me down!" I try to get down but he holds me there and walks towards some vents that needed to be done after getting the information from Kraglin.

"I'll contact one of you or the others to switch when some are done." He calls over his shoulder at Yondu and Kraglin and they nod, smirking at me.

"Quill, I swear to God, you better put me down!"

"Or what?" I can hear the smirk in his voice and I growl, hitting his back. He holds my legs still so I can't kick him and stops under a vent. "Let's get this done, kid." He holds me on his shoulders and I sigh, figuring out he wasn't going to let this go. I take the cover off and he pushes me into the vent with the machine as I activate my mask. I start to clean it and get back onto his shoulders when it's done. We go through the ship and clean some of the vents I didn't get earlier.

When other Ravagers start to go towards the mess, I still had quite a few to do and Quill contacts somebody on his wrist thing as he puts me in the next vent to clean.

As I'm coming out of the vent, Quill is walking to get some sleep and someone grabs around my waist, setting me on the floor after I close it.

"How many vents do you have left to do?" Drax asks and I look at him.

"About ten or so." He nods and leads me to the next one, lifting me to open the vent before pushing me into it. We move through the rest of the ship and I clean the last of the vents.

After about an hour, the vents are finally clean and we go to the mess after dropping the machine off in the control room. Drax gets me food on a tray and leads me to the table with Yondu and the others. I sit down with my tray and furrow my eyebrows when I see their heat signatures before reaching behind my ear to deactivate my mask. Yondu was smirking and I start to eat, shoveling it in my mouth after the first bite since I had forgotten to eat before being told to go to bed.

"Whoa! Slow down!" Quill chuckles and I swallow the food I had in my mouth to glare at him. "You hungry?" He chuckles and I grumble under my breath as I continue eating at a slower pace now.

"Ya tired, girl?" I look up and see Yondu smirking at me as I swallow the food in my mouth.

"Nope. Wide awake." I smirk back and continue to eat, clearing the tray in record time before taking it over to the cart. "I'm going to go to my room."

"I thought you weren't tired?" Quill smirks at me and I glare at him.

"I'm not. But I am covered in dust which I'd like to get off of me." I say and start walking towards the door of the mess.

"Can't you suffer through it?!" He calls after me and laughs when I flip him off as I walk out of the mess. I go to my room and get changed quickly, shaking the dust off of my jacket after activating my mask again. I slide it back on and deactivate my mask, grabbing my Walkman. I slip the headphones on and press play as I go to the gym, dancing as I go.

I get to the gym just as my music dies down and I feel my heart plummet. "Come on... Not now..." I groan and take the batteries out, switching them around. "Come on, work..." I press the play button and nothing happens. "Damnit!" I growl and look up to see other Ravagers staring at me. "What?" I glare at them and they go back to what they were doing. I leave the gym and go to the hangar, getting on Quill's ship. I don't look as carefully as I did yesterday and am probably being loud, but I don't care since everyone that stays on the ship is in the mess.

"You have got to have some batteries here somewhere," I mutter to myself and open anything that was shut, not bothering shutting them when I'm done. I go through every room on the ship to try to find some batteries and slam the final drawer I can find shut. "Damnit!" I growl loudly and get off of the ship, pushing past Quill as I leave the hangar. I go to my room and dump my backpack out onto my bed, digging through the contents to see if I had any batteries. "Come on... I've got to have some in here..." I mutter and throw stuff onto the floor, not noticing Quill standing in my open doorway or when it starts to fill with some crew and Yondu.

"Why didn't I grab any batteries?" I mutter to myself and throw something at my door, hitting Yondu in the forehead. All the noise outside goes silent and the pair of socks I threw bounces on the floor once. Yondu comes in and shuts the door behind him, looking at me.

"Wha's wrong with ya, girl?" He growls and I grab my Walkman.

"The, uh, the batteries died..." I say carefully and he looks at me, rolling his eyes. He grabs my jacket and opens my door, dragging me along with him to the control room. I stumble a bit but manage to get my feet under me and walk alongside him. He drags me into his room and shoves me to sit on a couch I didn't see last night as he roots through some drawers. He grabs something and comes over to me, taking my Walkman.

I open my mouth to say something but shut it at the glare he gives me and he does something before giving me my Walkman back. I plug my headphones back in and try to play it. Music blares from them and I look at him carefully.

"Thank you, Captain..." I pause the music and he looked pissed. "I didn't know you were there and thought my door was shut..." I explain and he crosses his arms over his chest. 

"Ya trash Quill's ship?"

"Yes, I did... I was looking for batteries..." He rolls his eyes and is suddenly in front of me, grabbing my arm. He hauls me off of the couch and his hand is landing on my ass. "OUCH!" I yelp and his hand lands a few more times before he lets me go. I quickly step back a bit and he looks at me.

"Ya don' trash nobody's ship, girl! It don' matter wha' yer lookin' fer!" He bellows at me and I nod my understanding. "Git it?!"

"Yes, Captain." He nods and goes towards the door, opening it for me.

"Git ta the hangar. Yer washing Quill's ship an' all the other ships."

"Aye, Captain."

"Git." I leave his room and quickly go to the hangar, managing to keep my head up when some of the crew makes fun of me. I get to the hangar and Quill and Kraglin were waiting for me.

"Do you ever do anything other than watch me?" I ask Kraglin and he narrows his eyes at me.

"Cap'n ordered me ta make sure ya clean the ships proper. Git goin'." I nod and go towards Quill's ship to start with.

"Hey, hold on a second." I pause and look to see Quill holding a pair of boots out to me. "These will help you clean the ships." I take them and swap them out with the ones I had on.

"They look the same." He rolls his eyes and grabs my wrist, slipping a strap with a remote on it. "What's this for?" He motions for me to hit a button and I do, launching upwards. "Whoa!" I laugh and he chuckles. I slowly let go of the button and land back on the floor. "Nice!" He nods towards the ships and I nod, going to start cleaning them.

"Yer too easy on her, Petey."

"You want her to fall and get hurt? Cuz I don't. I especially don't want the whipping Dad would give us. He likes the kid." There's a thud followed by me yelping. They run over to where I'm sitting on the floor under his ship and rubbing my head a bit. "You OK?" I nod and he looks at me.

"Yeah, I'm OK. Just hit my head." I press behind my ear and activate my mask before standing. "I'm gonna try this again." I press a button on the remote before pressing another one and float in the air a bit, smiling. "HA!" I start to clean the bottom of Quill's ship and move to the side to start cleaning that side. The two of them keep an eye on me as I clean the ships and Kraglin puts Quill's music into a wall so it plays around us. I listen to the music and kinda dance as much as I can while I clean the ships.

Around lunchtime or so, Yondu comes in to see how I'm doing and sees me push off of a ship carefully to get to another one. "Hey! Be careful!" Quill yells and walks from under a ship to keep his eyes on me.

"I am being careful, Quill! Chill out!" I yell back and press down on a button to propel myself a bit higher before pressing another one. "I got this figured out! Thanks for getting me these!"

"No problem, kid! Just be careful!" I nod and start to clean the last ship. "How's it coming? This is the last one, right?"

"Yeah! Whose ship is this?"

"Cap'n's! So git it clean!" Kraglin yells up at me and I nod, working on cleaning it meticulously.

"Done!" I yell after about ten minutes and press a couple of buttons on the remote on my wrist before slowly floating to the floor. "Where's a hose to rinse them off?" Quill gives one to me and I start to rinse the ships off. "Any chance I can get help with this part?"

"Nope. Yondu wants you to do this on your own." I nod a bit and rinse the bottoms of the ships before activating the blaster boots to rinse the other parts of them.

After about twenty minutes, I land next to Quill and Kraglin and give Quill the hose. "Done!" I deactivate the mask and was smiling a bit. I see Yondu and smile at him.

"Ya done, girl?"

"Yes, Captain." Kraglin spins and pounds his hand over his heart twice so I copy him, figuring he knew when to do it. Quill chuckles and I see him smiling at me. "What?"

"Nothing." He smirks and I narrow my eyes at him. "It's nice to see you do the Ravager salute, alright?"

"Awe, you're sentimental. That's annoying." Yondu laughs and Quill rolls his eyes.

"It's good to know that when the other Guardians and I head out, you'll be taken care of."

"Guardians?"

"We're the Guardians of the Galaxy, kid." Rocket says as he comes in with the rest of his group and I look at them.

"Uh-huh... If you say so... I'm going to go get something to eat." I grab my normal boots and leave the hangar, dropping my boots off in my room before going to the mess. I grab a tray and get some food with a bit of difficulty before starting to go to Yondu's table.

I'm suddenly sprawled on the floor as my tray goes flying across the floor and grunt softly. I quickly roll over and kick someone in the chest as they try to grab me. They try to grab me again, since the kick didn't do much to them, and I activate the blaster boots to get away from them before I stand up. Some big red guy comes over and swings at me. I duck and roll out of the way of another punch. He advances on me and I watch him carefully. He tries to grab me and I barely avoid his hands, feeling his fingers brush against my arms. He growls and tries to grab me again. I activate the blaster boots and launch myself over him, kicking him in the back before I land behind him.

He stumbles a bit and spins to run at me. I roll away from him and take my blaster out, hitting him in the back with the handle of it, remembering Yondu's warning. He falls and growls. I quickly put it back in my holster and keep an eye on the guy. He stands and glares at me, pissed and looking like he was going to kill me. He takes his blaster out and points it at me. I look at him and he smirks. "See ya, girl." He snarls at me and shoots the blaster at me.

"No!" Quill yells and gets in front of me, getting hit in the stomach. Yondu whistles sharply and his arrow flies through the guy's arm. He yells in pain and grabs his arm. Quill had fallen to the floor unconscious at the hit and Kraglin comes over, helping him up. I was trying to stop him from bleeding and was pissed as I take my knife out of its holster, holding it against my wrist.

"You shot him," I growl at the guy and he growls at me.

"It was meant for you, girl!" He snarls and I go over to him, slicing his leg to make him fall to my level. He grunts and falls to his knees before I grab his hair to make him look at me.

"Once we're planetside, I'll kill you myself," I growl and hit him, hard, on the side of his head with the hard handle of my knife. He falls to the floor and I put my knife up.

"Krags, take him ta the Doc! Now!" I turn and see Kraglin going that way, quickly following him.

He lays him on a bed when we get there and I look at Quill then Kraglin. "C'mon, Petey... Wake up..." He pats his face and shakes him a bit. I climb onto the bed and put pressure on the wound.

"Quill, wake up... Please..." He stays unconscious and I was worried about him. "Wake up... Come on... Please, Dad... Wake up..." I whisper and Doc comes in. Kraglin moves me and holds me when I try to go back to him. I watch Doc carefully and hold Kraglin's arm tightly. "Be OK... Please be OK..." I whisper and Kraglin holds me tighter.

Doc finishes and walks away. I climb into the bed and sit next to him, watching his face for any signs of him waking up. "Come on, Dad... Wake up... Please be OK..." I whisper and watch him.

"Kid, Cap'n wants us in the mess ta eat," Kraglin says as he gently touches my shoulder and I shake my head, shrugging his hand away.

"I'm not leaving," I tell him simply and stay by Quill. I hear him leave and I take his Walkman out as I carefully move to sit in a chair next to his bed, turning it up loud enough we'd both be able to hear it despite not having the headphones on. "Come on, Dad... You gotta be OK... Please be OK..." I say softly and fold my left arm on the bed, resting my head on it to watch him and his monitors. I gently grab his hand with my right one and squeeze it gently. I stay there and fall asleep like that.

\--------

"Where's the girl, Krags?" Yondu asks when Kraglin comes into the mess by himself and he goes over to him.

"She won' leave Quill, Cap'n." He nods a bit and motions for him to get something to eat. He grabs some for me to eat and sits to the right of Yondu at his table. 

"I can bring her here," Drax suggests and Yondu shakes his head.

"Ya jus' le' her be with her Daddy." Kraglin eats his food and was also worried. 

"Peter will be OK. He is too stubborn to die now." Gamora says and Yondu nods his agreement while Kraglin scoffs a bit. "What are you going to do with the one who shot him?"

"The girl said she was gonna kill him herself." She nods a bit and thought that that would be good.

"She should get accustomed to it. Since Ravagers do have to kill, lie, cheat, and steal." Drax says and Kraglin's wrist com beeps. He taps the screen and a hologram pops up.

"Doc? Wha's wrong?" He asks then quickly stands and runs out of the room when he sees something was wrong with Quill followed by Yondu.

\-------

I wake up to my hand being squeezed back and look at Quill to see his entire body was shaking. "Dad?!" I think and quickly push him onto his side, holding his head gently. "It's OK, Dad... It'll be OK... Please stop shaking... Please..." I whisper, close to tears, and he slowly stops shaking. "Alright... See? You're gonna be fine... You've gotta be OK..." I carefully move and lay him back down, not seeing Yondu and Kraglin in the doorway with Doc.

"You just gotta wake up, alright? Please wake up..." I whisper and hold his arm tightly, tears falling. Someone touches my shoulder and I quickly wipe them away.

"C'mon, girl. Let 'im res'." I shake my head and sit back down in the chair.

"I'm not leaving him, Captain... Not until I'm sure he's OK..." He squeezes my shoulder gently and Gamora sits across from me. I look at her for a moment before looking back at Quill and watch him. I hear Yondu and Kraglin walk away and I watch Quill until I fall asleep again.

The next time I wake up, it's to voices and I open my eyes, seeing Quill awake and talking to Yondu and Kraglin, sat up. I sigh softly in relief and hit his foot. He looks at me and smiles. "Hey, Rogue. I hear you were worried about me?" He smirks and I glare at him as I stand up.

"No, I wasn't."

"Yondu and Krags said you were in tears with how worried you were."

"Yondu and Kraglin are dirty rotten liars. I was not crying over you."

"But you were crying?"

"No, I wasn't." I cross my arms over my chest and notice Kraglin tap a few things on his wrist thing before a hologram video appears of me holding Quill as he shakes to me arguing with Yondu about leaving Quill. Quill smirks at me and I don't look at him.

"You sure you weren't worried?" He asks and I look up, glaring at him.

"Fine. Yes, I was. If you ever make me worry like that again, I'll kill you myself. We clear, Dad?" He smiles and nods. "What's with the smile?"

"You called me Dad. It's been Quill until now." He explains and I shrug one shoulder. 

"Dad has fewer syllables."

"They each have one. Nice try." He smirks and I blush a tiny bit.

"Shut up..." I mutter and he chuckles. "I'm glad you're OK, Dad..." He grabs my shoulder and squeezes it gently. I hear a throat clear and look over at Yondu. "What are you going to do with the guy that shot him?"

"He broke the Code, he's been dropped off and stripped of his Ravager flames," Gamora says for Yondu and I nod.

"Good. It sounds like it would be nearly as bad as death." I look at Quill and he was still smiling. "Get better soon. I want to be able to beat the crap out of you without having to worry about you dying because of an open wound." I awkwardly pat his shoulder and he chuckles.

"Sure thing, kid. Don't get on the receiving end of a blaster this time. I won't be there to save you." He smirks at me and I roll my eyes.

"Shut up, you idiot."

"Hey! Now I'm your Guardian too!"

"Alright, that's it." I yank a pillow from another bed and hit him with it a few times, making sure I avoid his stomach. "Shut. The. Hell. Up." I hit him in the face with it one more time and it falls into his lap as he laughs.

"You're so adorable when you get angry." He teases and I roll my eyes. 

"And you're an idiot."

"So you've said." He chuckles and I roll my eyes again, getting a headache.

"OK, I'm done with you. Don't die. I'm going to my room. You've given me a headache." He just smiles at me and I leave the med, going to my room.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day, Quill is out of the med bay and is all fixed up. We're eating in the mess and I look over to see him fiddling with a box in his hands, watching Gamora. I look at the box then at him and smile a bit, kicking him under the table. He looks at me and sees my smile. "What?"

"Is there a ring in that box, Dad?" He blushes and I smirk. "I knew it!" I take a bite of food and he quickly shoves it under the table as Gamora sits across from him. "Hi, Gamora!" I smile brightly at her and she looks at me, suspicious.

"Hello, Rogue. You are very... Happy this morning."

"Oh, very. And I feel like Dad is too. And nervous. Ain't that right, Dad?" I turn to smirk at Quill and he glares at me.

"Shut up, Rogue." He hisses at me and I smile, taking another bite of food.

"Speaking of your father... Peter." Gamora looks at Quill and had something in her hand.

"Yeah, Ga-" He stops talking when he sees a ring in her hand and she smiles at him.

"Wow, you finally got him to shut up. Good job." I smile and laugh when I get elbowed a little hard by Kraglin.

"I have done research that says Terrans give their mate a ring when they wish to stay together for the rest of their lives. Did I do something wrong?" She looks at me and I shake my head.

"Nah. Dad was gonna do the same." Quill glares at me and I shrug. "You were. She just beat you to it." I smirk at him and smile at Gamora. "Terrans also usually ask for them to do that and do a whole speech. You're doing great. Please. Continue." She nods and looks at Quill. I vaguely notice that Yondu was talking to someone and pay attention to the couple.

"Peter, I wish to stay with you for the rest of my life. You are a very good man and it would be my honor to spend the rest of my life by your side. Will you stand by mine?" She watches Quill and he wasn't saying anything so I kick him again.

"Stop kicking me!" He hisses at me and I motion to Gamora.

"Answer your woman, Dad! Are you gonna marry her or what?" The entire mess was silent and was also waiting for an answer as he looks at her again.

"Yes." He smiles and leans over to peck her lips, blushing when he sits back down. I stand on the chair I was sitting on and Quill glares at me. "Sit down!"

"Shut up, you." I look at the crew and yell "This is the part where you embarrass him by cheering really loud!" The entire mess bursts into cheers, loving the thought of embarrassing Quill, and I smile at him. "Congratulations," I say as I sit down and continue eating.

"Thanks... Could've done without you making the crew cheer for me, though..."

"They cheered for us, Peter. Which finger does this ring go on?" I point to Quill's ring finger and she slips the ring on it, kissing his hand.

"Hell yeah! Break the gender norms!" I try to give her a high five and they look at me like I'm crazy. I try to explain for a second and just sigh. "Never mind." I finish eating and Yondu stands.

"Quiet down!" He hollers and the mess goes silent. "Time fer a Ravager weddin' tradition!" The mess cheers and I look at him, confused.

"There's a Ravager wedding tradition?" I whisper to Kraglin and he nods, motioning for me to be quiet as Yondu does the same to the whole mess.

"The Stealin' of the Bride!" Gamora looks at Quill then at Yondu and stands.

"The what?!"

"It's nothin' bad. It's a game." She nods and sits down again. "The bride gets taken to their family ship, cuz Ravagers married into other clans. The family would pick the bride up an' the groom an' his crew git her back." I get an idea and smirk. Yondu sees and looks at me. "Wha' ya thinkin', girl?" He motions for me to stand and I do.

"What if we did the Stealing of the Groom? Gamora proposed to Dad instead of the other way around. Besides, I don't think Gamora would agree to it."

"Both versions sound fun, however, I do enjoy the idea of rescuing Peter," Gamora says and I smile, looking at Yondu. He steps away and contacts someone on his wrist com. "What do you think, Peter? Would you like to be rescued by me?" She smirks at Quill and I gape at them.

"Well, sure." He chuckles and I smile as Yondu comes back.

"A'ight, Stakar's _Starhawk_ is gonna act as Quill's home ship." Yondu smiles at Quill and he nods. "It'll be happenin' at any time. We git to plan. Git, boy." Quill nods and leaves the mess. "Ya too, girl." I look at Yondu and he was looking at me.

"Come on, Captain. I can help with this. Besides, I should be in it. He's my Dad."

"How are ya gonna help?"

"I'm small. If you give me a map of the place, I can get in the vents and locate him while giving you notice on where guards are. Plus, I got somebody to engineer me some magnetic gloves to climb around on the walls of ships."

"Wha' ya do tha' fer?!"

"When I need to help you steal stuff on other ships," I explain and he nods.

"A'ight. Yer in." I smile and he pulls up a holographic map of Stakar's ship. "Shut tha' door." A Ravager nearby shuts the door and Yondu explains the rules of the game then the layout of the ship to us. He gives me a downloadable version of the map and I pull it up on my wrist com. He also has a couple of Ravagers get a crate on a table and open it up.

"These earpieces connect to your wrist coms. They will allow you to speak with anyone while we are retrieving Peter." Gamora explains and everyone gets one from the crate, putting it in. We go over code names at Rocket's insistence and I'm being called-

"Mole? That's the best you've got for me?"

"You're going to be our mole. It's the perfect code name, kid!" Rocket smirks at me and I narrow my eyes at him before shaking my head before I remember.

"Moles are only on Terra..." Rocket nods and I smirk. "Ooh, you sly bastard." I chuckle and he smirks still. Gamora goes to check on Quill and there's a ship-wide announcement that he's already been taken.

"That was fast." I chuckle and head to the control room with Yondu, seeing Gamora there already. Yondu has her stand next to his chair and calls Stakar.

_"Yondu, Gamora."_ Stakar had a sly smirk on his face and Gamora was smirking too.

"Stakar. You work quickly."

_"It's a good trait to have for a Ravager."_

"Well, we'll be just as efficient. I'm coming for my groom." She hangs up and I had seen Quill blushing in the background. "Let's go." I go with Gamora and Rocket to the hangar and get onto an M-ship that matched the color of space outside for stealth. I can feel the ship moving and the doors to the hangar open once we're through a jump to get to Stakar's ship. I get strapped into a seat and so does Gamora while Rocket pilots us out, along with a bunch of other M-ships. We get docked in the hangar and Rocket starts to leave.

_"Contact me and I'll come pick the three of you up when you're done."_ Gamora nods and helps me into a vent. I activate my mask and turn the map on.

_"Come in Mole, Poppins, and M-Team. This is Grinch. Are you in positions?"_

_"M-Team ready."_

_"Poppins here. Ready."_ I press my right ear carefully.

"Mole here. Ready when you are, Grinch."

_"Good. Roll out."_

 _"We'll keep 'em busy fer ya, Grinch,"_ Kraglin says and I start to move quietly in the vents.

_"Mole, any updates?"_ Yondu asks in my ear and I look out of a vent opening, pressing my right ear.

"Two guards about to be taken care of, Poppins. With non-lethal force." I open the vent and roll out a small bomb looking device onto the floor after activating it from my belt. The guards look down at it and it lets out two streams of gas that they breathe in, falling to the floor, out cold. "Taken care of, Poppins." I shut the vent and follow the map to one of my two spots.

_"Any sign of the flower or big bad wolf?"_

"Not yet, Grinch." I crawl through the vents and look through the slits of one into the security room before moving on. "Nikon room is clear." I go through the vents and see a lot of guards in a hallway. I grab two of the gas bombs and drop them out of the vent after opening it.

"What the-" They're cut off as they fall to the floor, out cold, and continue to the next room I have, seeing Quill in it.

_"Updates?"_ Gamora asks.

 _"Game room is clear,"_ Kraglin says and I nod, enjoying the fact that they listened to my ideas for the control room and mess hall.

 _"Same with filth room,"_ Yondu says.

_"Mole?"_

"I have eyes on the flower. The flower is in the den."

_"Move, Mole. I'll be there shortly."_

"Copy that, Grinch." I open the vent below me and drop to the floor in Stakar's room where Quill and Aleta were watching what was happening on a bunch of screens. I look up and smile at Quill. "Hey, Dad. You might want to get behind the couch." I say and do that with the two of them just as the door blows open. Quill pops his head up and Gamora is walking in, Rocket's blaster in her hands.

"Are you ready to be rescued, Peter?" He nods and goes over to her. We look at Aleta and she sits back down on the couch. "Are you going to stop us?"

"It isn't my ship. Careful on your way out. Stakar could be anywhere." I nod and motion Quill over.

"Give me a boost." He comes over and lifts me into the vent. "Thanks." I shut the vent opening and nod at them through the slits, crawling through the vents next to them as we quickly move to the hangar.

_"Wings, we're ready."_

_"Copy that, Grinch."_ I get to the hangar first and look around, not seeing anyone as I press my right ear slightly.

"Be on the lookout. This seems too easy." I notice Yondu and Kraglin with a couple of other people come in behind Gamora and Quill and they start to walk towards the ship they came on. Quill grabs Gamora's arm and pulls her back just as a tall stack of crates comes tumbling down before Stakar comes out from where they were. Yondu and Kraglin push Quill into a mini circle to fight off some of Stakar's crew while Gamora and Stakar fight and I move quietly through the vents.

I stop when I'm right above Stakar and move the vent door to inside the vent before dropping down onto Stakar with a yell. I knock him onto the floor and smirk at Quill and Gamora. "Go!" I yell and Gamora grabs Quill, running onto Rocket's waiting ship. Rocket leaves quickly and Stakar throws me off of him. I hit a stack of crates with a grunt and stand quickly. Stakar's wrist com beeps and he looks at it.

"Damn, that rat can fly. Congratulations, Yondu. Your crew got the groom back." The crew cheers and I spin with a yell, smiling a huge smile behind the mask before I deactivate it. "You seem happy." He chuckles and I nod.

"Hell yeah! This is the first time I've helped win a competition! That was awesome!" I go back over to Yondu and Kraglin and they were smiling.

"What'd you use on my crew that knocked them out?" I just smirk and shrug a bit.

"We have to keep some secrets, Gramps. Besides, Yondu might recruit a Xandarian later down the road that falls my endless amount of charm and we'll have another Stealing of the Groom." I smirk and they laugh. 

"I wasn't expecting you to be here. Whose idea was it for you to be in the vents?"

"Mine. I'm the only one small enough to fit in them." 

"Clever. Especially getting the drop on me like that. Good job." I smile and bow my head as I do the Ravager Salute to him.

"Thank you." He smiles and ruffles my hair. I look at Yondu and smile. "We should get back." He nods and leads me to his ship with Kraglin following. The rest of the crew go to their ships and the pilots all head back to the _Eclector_.

When we dock in the hangar, Quill and Gamora are waiting and I get off of the ship, smiling still. We were the last ones to dock and the rest of the crew was gone. I see Quill and the thrill of helping win the competition was back.

"That was fucking awesome!" I yell as I jump off of the ship and smile at Quill. "That was the first time I've helped win a competition! You know how badly I want to do a victory dance right now?" He rolls his eyes and motions for me to just get it out of my system.

I do a mix of the dances I know and end with a spin, chanting 'we won' as I do.

"Feel better now?" Quill asks and I nod, smiling still. "Good. Now... Who the Hell thought putting my kid in the vents would be a good idea?! What if she came across something that wanted to kill her in it?!"

"Hey! Chill out, Dad! It was my idea, calm down." I chuckle and he looks at me like I was insane.

"Why the Hell did you want to be involved in this?!"

"It sounded like fun and it was damned well was! What's your problem with it?"

"I know it was non-lethal injuries, but you still could've gotten hurt badly!"

"I'm gonna get hurt! You can't just expect me to stay on this ship and in my room all the time!"

"The Hell I can't! I'm your father and I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe! Even if it means putting you in a bubble!"

"You can't put me in a bubble, Dad! Just deal with the fact I'm going to get hurt and move on!"

"You don't tell me what to do, Rogue!"

"It's my damned life and you're trying to keep me from doing something I want to do!"

"Because what you want to do is stupid as Hell!"

"Well, at least we know what I get from you now! Your stupidity!"

"Don't you dare speak to me that way!"

"Then don't treat me like I'm a toddler!"

"Then don't act like it!"

"Fuck you!" I yell and leave the hangar, shoving through the crowd of the crew that had come to see what was happening after all the yelling had reached them. They part for me and I go to my room, locking the door from the inside. I sit on my bed and sigh softly, back hurting from where I hit the crates earlier. "Damn..." I mutter and decide to just go to sleep, exhausted.

When I wake up later, I go to the mess as I run a hand through my hair to straighten it out and get food, sitting at the table with Yondu, Kraglin, and Quill. I fold my arm on the table between my body and tray and look down at it as I eat. "You look like you just rose from the dead." Quill laughs and I ignore him, still pissed at him for earlier. Gamora sits next to him and across from me.

"Hello, Rogue. You look like you slept well."

"Yup," I say before eating a bite of food and lift my hand from the table slightly in greeting.

"You seem to be upset."

"Nope." I eat my food and set a soda on the table for Quill. "From Terra." I continue eating and vaguely notice him take it.

"Thanks, Rogue."

"Mhmm." I finish my food and put the empty tray on the cart before leaving the mess to go to the gym since it's usually abandoned at this time. I put my headphones on and play the music from my Walkman as I practice the hand to hand combat Kraglin showed me to let off some steam.

After a couple of songs, I decide to try something new and shift my right foot back a bit. I put my weight on the ball of my left foot and kick my right foot up as I spin my body. I kick the dummy hard enough it falls over and I spin a bit more to get back into my original position before picking the dummy back up. I hear footsteps approach me in between songs and I copy the kick I just did, angling my foot up higher.

Kraglin blocks the kick and I shove my headphones off of my ears. "You don't sneak up on people like that!" I hiss at him, noticing some people from the crew watching, and he nods towards the dummy.

"Where ya learn tha'?" I shrug a bit and think.

"Chuck Norris from Terra." He nods and looks at me. "Time for our training session already?" He nods again and I get in a fighting stance while he does the same. I start to slowly circle him and he follows my movements to keep me in his line of sight, closing the distance as he does.

Once he's close enough, I do the leg sweep he taught me yesterday and knock him to the floor. I offer him my hand to help him up and he takes it. I use it to flip him over and pin him to the mat, arm twisted behind his back for a moment before I let him up, moving away quickly. He stands and smirks at me. 

"Not bad, kid," I smirk back and he swings a punch at me. I duck under his arm and get hit in the side by his other fist with a grunt. "But not good enough." I slip my blade out of my thigh holster as I launch myself at his legs and knock us both down, pinning him there with the handle of my blade to his throat, cutting my hand so I don't accidentally cut him. He notices and pushes me off of him, grabbing the knife handle. I let go and grab it from him, putting it back in my holster.

"Wha' ya do tha' fer?" He nods towards my hand and I shrug. "Git ta the Doc," He says and I nod, going to med.

"Doc!" I call as I get there and hop onto a bed as Doc comes around a corner toward me. "Hey, Doc. You mind patching my hand up?" They get some stuff and start to patch my hand up. "Always appreciated, Doc." I smile at them and they nod as they wrap my hand up. "See you later, Doc." I hop off of the bed and go to see what I can help anyone with anywhere. Other than Quill, that is.

I go around the ship until I find Kraglin working on a ship and go over to him. "Need help?" He curses and hits his head on something before coming out to glare at me. "Sorry. Need any help?" He nods and tells me what he needs help with, which is working on the inside of the ship's controls.

Once we're done, Kraglin contacts Yondu and gets on the ship. "What are we doing?" I ask when he shuts the door and comes to get strapped in.

"Tes' flight. Gotta make sure I fixed m'ship proper." He smiles and nods for me to get strapped in. I do that and watch as he gets the ship ready for the test flight.

"Can I pilot for a bit once it's safe to?" I look at him and he was a little shocked. "Come on, please? Dad's being an ass and probably won't let me until I'm way older. Please, Krags?" He chuckles and shrugs a bit.

"Don' see why not." I smile brightly and wait for him to say it'd be safe to do it. "A'ight." I move closer to the co-pilot controls and he guides me on how to do it. I fly it for a bit until we get close to the _Eclector_ again and he takes control again, docking. 

"That was awesome." I smile and he chuckles as we both get off of his ship. I see Quill and Yondu waiting for us and lose the smile when I catch sight of Quill.

"Why'd you take her off of the ship without asking if it was OK?" Quill growls at Kraglin and I look at him incredulously.

"Cap'n let her," Kraglin says and I cross my arms over my chest as I glare at Quill.

"Yeah, Captain let me." He glares back at me and points a finger at me.

"You shut up." He growls and I scoff a bit, throwing my hands in the air a bit. "Why'd you take her off the ship? Did you let her pilot your ship?!" 

"So wha' if I did?" Kraglin growls and steps closer to him as Quill does the same.

"You shouldn't have let her." He growls back and I lose my temper.

"ENOUGH!" I yell loudly and the three of them look at me, shocked. "I'm sick and tired of your bullshit already. You're being an asshat to everyone around you and it's pissing me off. Get your shit together and go plan your wedding with Gamora. Let me know when you've got that done, and we'll see what happens then." I look at Kraglin a bit and back at Quill. "And yes, Kraglin did let me pilot the ship because he was in a safe spot and was there to take it back if anything bad happened. Stop thinking you're the only one who can keep me safe because there's a whole lot of people that will and you need to get that through your thick skull." I say simply and he just spins on his heel, leaving the hangar. I sigh and rub my face.

"Tha' was fun ta see." Yondu chuckles and I look at him. "I ain't never seen Quill git so fast." He smirks at me and I smile a bit, chuckling softly.

"I have that effect on people." Kraglin squeezes my shoulder and steers me over to some over ships and some crewmates. "What are you doing?"

"Yer good with yer hands. Ya would be a good fit with the mechanics." He smiles down at me and I just nod, not sure what else to do or what to say. He explains as much to the group of crewmates and they look at me before nodding at Kraglin. "Have fun, kid." He chuckles and walks off. I look at the crewmates and nod a bit.

"What can I do?" One of them motions for someone to grab a small crate full of blue metal pads and they set it in front of me.

"Study these holopads. They have the layout and more of every ship in this hangar and more in the galaxy. Once you're through those, we have some old engines you can practice on. Get going." A Xandarian says and I nod, grabbing one of the holopads as I turn the visor on to be able to read them. "They connect to that thing, too." He taps a few things and I can hear a voice explaining things to me. I nod at him and he nods back. "What's your name, kid?"

"Rogue."

"Well, Rogue. You can call me Jay. How old are you?"

"Ten Terran years. You?"

"Probably about the same age. I snuck into the cargo on the last stop on Xandar and they let me stay."

"Nice." I nod and sit on an unopened crate to work on studying the holopads. He watches me for a moment before going back to work on the ship with the other crewmates and I look up when I hear them whistling at him.

"Careful, boy. Tha' girl's Daddy is Quill."

"So? I'd be worried if she were Captain's kid."

"Cap'n's her Grand Daddy." I notice Jay flush blue and smile a bit before going back to studying, listening to the team of crewmates tease Jay a bit.

"Rogue." I look up a while later to see Jay standing in front of me and smiling. "You hungry?"

"Starving." I hop off of the crate and walk next to him as I continue studying the holopad.

"You wanna sit with me and the other mechanics?" I look up at him and he was smiling nervously, face flushed slightly blue.

"Sure." I smile and he smiles back as we get our food. He leads me to his table with the rest of the mechanic's team and I notice Yondu smirking at us as I sit down to the right of him. "So, have you been a mechanic the whole time you've been on here?" He nods and smiles at me.

"My Momma used to own a shop and I'd help her out in it. I never knew my Daddy, but Momma said that he was an amazing person." He smiles a bit and I recognize it, lightly bumping my shoulder against his, making him look at me. "She died before I snuck on board." He says sadly and bumps my shoulder back.

"Well, I'm sure she'd be proud of you because you're using what she taught you. That won't let you forget her, Jay. Trust me." He smiles at me and flushes blue a bit, eating some food. I eat myself and study the holopad as I do. "Thanks for giving me this information. It'll make helping you guys a lot easier. And it'll give me something to do alongside training with Kraglin." I look at Jay and he looks at me, smiling.

"You're pretty." He says suddenly and loudly in the otherwise quiet mess and every head turns to us. He flushes blue and chuckles a bit. "Sorry..."

"No... It's alright... Thanks..." I smile at him and continue to eat my food as the Ravagers around us start to tease us. "Oh, shut up." I roll my eyes, smiling, at some of the Ravagers next to us and they keep teasing us. "When was the last time you told a woman your age that they were pretty?" They shut up at that and I smirk. "That's what I thought." I glance at Jay out of the corner of my eye and he was smiling as he ate, still flushed blue.

"Jay, yer a'most as blue as Cap'n," Kraglin says from behind a couple of Ravagers across from us and he looks up, chuckling nervously. "Wha' ya two talkin' 'bout?"

"Just how much they _love_ each other," A ravager across from Jay teases and Jay flushes bluer. I kick him in the leg and he smirks at me. "Come on, girl. It's all in good fun."

"Well, cut back on it," I tell him simply and he chuckles but doesn't say anything else to tease us. "What do you need, Kraglin?" He sits on the other side of me and looks at the holopad in my hand.

"Wha'cha got there?" He asks and I smile, showing him.

"It's a manual of Dad's ship. It has the entire layout and what the engine looks like. Plus it shows me what each piece is and how it works."

"Why'd ya start with tha' one?" He raises an eyebrow at me and I shrug a bit.

"I just grabbed the one on top in the middle and it was this one. Can I finish telling you what this does, now?" He chuckles and nods. "Good." I turn it towards him a bit and pull something up. "This thing will pop up with questions like a pop quiz on Terra after I've finished a portion of it. I'm already about halfway through it and have had maybe five pop quizzes."

"How did you do on them?" Jay asks from my other side and I shrug a bit.

"I mean, I've gotten all of the questions right so far."

"Good job, kid." Kraglin smiles and I smile shyly as I look at the holopad again.

"The questions are more or less the same once you get past the first few." I shrug and go through a bit more of the program before another group of questions pops up. Kraglin notices and looks at the first one.

"Tha's a big question, kid." Jay looks over my shoulder and starts to point to the answer as I tap it. He looks at Kraglin and they make eye contact before they go back to watching me. I had my eyebrows furrowed a bit, looking at a diagram for the engine for a question, and zoom in on it before clicking the piece that doesn't belong. It pops up green and gives me the last question for this quiz. 

"Wow. That one looks hard," Jay says from beside me, shutting up when I elbow him in the side, and Kraglin looks over my shoulder at it.

"Ya got-" I elbow him and he shuts up. I read the question and look at the answers as well as the diagram on it then click the video on it.

"You have to find what made it malfunction," Jay says and I elbow him harder, making him shut up with a slight wince. I watch the video in a slower version and click the reason it malfunctioned, getting all of the questions right again. "Awesome." He smiles at me and I smile a bit too as I continue reading through, eating as I do. Kraglin chuckles and goes back to Yondu's table.

"What was she working on?" Gamora asks as he sits down and Quill looks at him.

"Mechanic stuff. Jay gave her some holopads ta study."

"Does she have a manual for Quill's ship?" She asks and he nods, smirking. 

"She's workin' on it, now. Said it was the one on top." He smirks at Quill as he looks over at me and Gamora stops him from going over.

"Leave her be. She seems to be enjoying learning about your ship. And if anything happens to it, we'll know who did it." He nods and sits back down, watching me with the others.

"Come on, girl. Put that thing down and joke with us." One of the Ravagers tries to take the holopad from my hands and I finish my food before stabbing them with my fork. "Son of a bitch!" He holds his hand close and I take my tray to the cart, heading back to the hangar as I continue to study the holopad.

"Girl!" I pause and turn to see Yondu staring at me. "Don' go 'round stabbing yer crew with forks."

"Got it, Captain." I nod and he nods back, motioning for me to continue where I was going. I go back to the hangar and sit on the unopened crate next to the one filled with holopads, finishing the program before I grab another one to start it as the other mechanics start coming back to get back to work.

There's suddenly a lot of clattering and I ignore it, figuring the crew was being clumsy, as I continue studying. "Rogue. Get up and salute." Jay hisses and I quickly do that, seeing a Captain I don't recognize beside Stakar and Sparkles.

"Captain Ogord, Sparkles." I bow my head to them and Stakar laughs at 'sparkles' while the rest of the hangar was silent. I lift my head and see Sparkles was also laughing while the other Captain looked confused.

"This is First Mate Martinex T'Naga of the _Starhawk_ , you should address him as such." He scolds and I nod a bit, looking at Sparkles.

"My apologies, First Mate Sparkles of the _Starhawk_ , but I'm afraid I'll be unable to say your actual name." I bow my head slightly to hide my smirk and Stakar slowly stops laughing as I lift my head, visor still activated.

"Rogue, this is Captain Charlie-27. Charlie, this is Rogue, Quill's daughter." He looks at me and I look back at him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain. I hope that we can get along better than my father and I do." I smile at him and look at the three of them. "I was in the middle of studying, can I get back to it?" Stakar nods and I hop back onto the unopened crate as I continue to study the holopad.

"Sparkles!" Yondu yells as he comes into the room, flipping Sparkles off, and he returns the gesture before they hug. "Charlie, ya old bastard!" They hug too and I briefly watch the exchange before going back to studying.

"What are you working on now, Rogue?" Jay asks from my right and I show him the engine layout of Kraglin's ship the _Cawl_. "Nice. How many more do you have?"

"The systems work similarly so I should be done studying them by the time we go to the mess again."

"Wow. You work fast." I shrug a bit and continue to study while he watches me. 

"You're being watched by Quill, the Captains, and First Mates, Jay." He looks up and sees that I was right, smiling nervously before zooming off in the other direction. "That was fast. I wonder how long that will work for before guys decide it's worth murder with eyes to try to hang out with me." I look up at Quill before going back to studying and grab a new holopad, having gone through about half of the small crate now.

"Take a break, Rogue. Come with me for a test flight of the _Milano_ ," Quill says and I look at him.

"Are you going to let me pilot it?"

"Not a chance in Hell."

"Then there's not a chance in Hell that I'm coming with you right now. I want to finish studying these and practice on some of the old engines Jay says are around here." I hear a couple of Ravagers snicker and throw a rag at them, hearing them laugh.

"How'd that song go?" One of them whispers to another and I notice them shrug. "Damn." They turn and smirk at me. "Hey, girl! You and Jay been sitting in any trees lately?" 

"Seeing as there are none on this ship, I'd have to say no."

"Not even kissing?" They make some kissing noises and I roll my eyes, flipping them off as I continue to study. "Awe, sorry girl! You're too young for me!"

"And you're too bald. Now leave me alone, you idiots." They laugh and I roll my eyes again, continuing to study.

"Aleta wants to know if you've figured out your last name yet," Stakar says and I look at him then back down at my holopad.

"Not quite." He nods a bit and I finish the holopad, grabbing a new one.

"Damn, girl. Slow down." Yondu chuckles and I glance at him.

"This is the first thing I've done that wasn't physically tiring and when I'm done, I get to do something cool. I think I'm good at the pace I'm going. Not my fault these damned things are basically the same as the one before it." He shrugs and I continue to study the holopads.


	8. Chapter 8

I finish the last of the holopads and hop off of the crates as I turn my visor off, rolling my shoulders slightly. "Ya done?" Kraglin asks and I nod, tilting my head from one side to the other to pop it. Jay comes over and smiles at me.

"Done already?" I nod and he smiles more, whistling before a couple of Ravagers bring out some engines. "How about a little wager?" He smirks at me and I cross my arms over my chest, narrowing my eyes at him. "Nothing bad." He chuckles and I motion for him to explain. "Whoever can figure out what's wrong with their engine and fix it properly first gets to choose a way to spend time with the other."

"Kid, that is so lame." Quill scoffs and I roll my eyes at Quill before looking at Jay again.

"So if I win, I get to choose what we do?" He nods and I smirk. "Do we get to have a partner?"

"Sure. I call Kraglin." He smirks and I gape at him. "He was the lead mechanic before he was First Mate." I look at Kraglin and he just shrugs, going over to Jay. I look at Yondu, Quill, Stakar, Charlie, and Martinex and I think. "Rogue, hurry up so I can beat you and you can spend the time helping me fix things."

"Shut up. I'm thinking."

"You just choose one! How does it take that much thought?!"

"You chose Kraglin and I was going to. So fuck you."

"When and where, Darlin'?" I look at him and he was smirking, slightly blue.

"You got a death wish?" Quill growls and I roll my eyes a bit.

"And he's out." I look between the rest of them and finally decide "I choose Yondu."

"Wha'? Why?"

"Sparkles is too spiky to be helpful, Quill won't be able to focus because he wants to kill Jay, and Stakar and Charlie are just too large. OK? OK. Let's go." I smile and he gapes at me while Martinex laughs.

"She's very convincing, Yondu." He flips him off and comes over to me to look the engine over after we both give Quill our jackets to keep them clean.

"Wha' ya think is wrong?" I look it over and bite my lip a bit as I think.

"I think it might be the wiring, something blocking the gaskets, and some other small things. If we each do one side, we should be able to get it done quickly." He nods and grabs the tools from nearby when Stakar yells that we can start fixing them up. I take off one cover while Yondu takes off the other and we work on fixing things.

"Taz, I found your next girlfriend!" I yell as I throw a dead thing behind me and hear roaring laughter. I finish my side and put the cover back on before going to help Yondu.

"DONE!" Jay yells, ignoring Kraglin trying to get him to stop, and they both step back while Charlie comes over to start the engine.

"Damn!" Yondu growls and starts to stand. I stop him with a hand on his arm and carefully pull him back down. "Girl. Wha' are ya doin'?"

"Keep going. Kraglin doesn't look happy about it, so something must not be right. Keep working. We're nearly done," I tell him and he nods before continuing the wires while I do the smaller things.

Charlie starts the engine and it sputters to life before dying a couple of moments later.

"Damn, girl. Ya were right."

"Told you. You done with those?"

"Yeah. Ya done there?"

"Nearly..." I tighten a couple of things and make sure they're clean before helping him put the cover back on.

"DONE!" We yell together and Stakar comes over as we stand. He starts the engine and it roars to life, staying on until Stakar turns it off.

"Yondu and Rogue win." I smile and notice Jay and Kraglin still struggling with theirs, going over.

"What's wrong with this one?"

"We can't figure it out." Jay scoffs and looks at me. "So, what are we doing?"

"Well, first off. We're going to fix this engine." I press behind my ear and look at it through my visor, scrolling to the problem when I see flashing lights in the corners.

"What's wrong with it?" I stick my hand in a small gap to connect a couple of wires and quickly yank my hand back out when the engine roars to life, nearly crushing my hand in some of its moving parts before it sputters out again.

"A lot more than expected..." I mutter and scroll through some more of the issues, making sure the engine is off this time. "Let's see..." I point out some of the issues to Jay and he helps me fix them while the others watch us.

"Anything else?" I see one more flashing light and scroll to see it.

"One more thing..." I go around to the other side and slip my hand into a small gap. "There's... Something stuck down here..." I reach down a bit deeper and feel something climb up my arm, having to pull it out slowly so I don't hurt myself as it climbs onto my shoulder and back. "There's something on my back... Get it off of me..." I say slowly and Stakar comes up, snatching it off of me.

"A damn orloni was living in there?! No wonder it didn't start!" Quill says and Stakar kills the thing while I brush specks of what I'm going to say is dirt off of me because that's the less gross option. I make sure no one's hands are in the engine and start it, smiling as it roars to life. It keeps going until I turn it off and I'm suddenly not on the floor anymore when Jay spins me around in a hug.

"Well, if this were to happen every time I found a problem wrong with engines, an older me wouldn't mind," I mutter and he sets me down, blushing blue.

"Sorry..." He chuckles nervously and looks at me. "So, what are we doing now?" 

"We're gonna have a sword fight," I smirk and he looks at me.

"What? Why?" Quill scoffs and I look at him.

"Dude, we're basically space pirates! There is a major lack of sword fights! Honestly, it's like you remember nothing about stuff from Terra. Pirates in movies always have some sort of sword fight at one point or another." I look at Jay and he was a little nervous. "Or we could keep working on old engines. Keep you inside your comfort zone." I tease and he shrugs.

"You won so you get to choose." I think and shrug a bit.

"Gamora would probably be more interesting in a sword fight. Old engines it is. Besides, this is fun." I smile at him and he smiles back.

"Come on, I'll show you where we keep the spare engines so we can make sure there aren't any more orlonis in them." Jay leads me to a back room and I follow, grabbing my jacket from Quill as I do.

\-------

"Gramps, could I ask you to do something for me?" Stakar looks at Quill, away from the others, and nods. "Would you take Jay back to your ship as a new mechanic team member?"

"What for?"

"Dad has plenty of talented mechanics here already and he won't be able to get to work on anything because of that. I figure if you take him to your ship or Aleta's, he'll get even better at it." Stakar nods a bit and agrees. "Thanks, Gramps." He smiles and goes to find Gamora.

\-------

A while later, Jay and I come out of the room and Stakar calls Jay over, waving me on to follow Yondu and Kraglin.

"What's that all about?" They shrug and we go to mess together to get something to eat. We sit at the table with Quill and Gamora and they talk as I think of the fun I had today with Jay, fixing the engines.

Jay comes in a bit later and runs over to me at Yondu's table. "Sorry, Captain. I just really need to talk to Rogue." He motions for him to go ahead and I look at him, noticing he was happy and excited.

"What's up, Jay?" I smile at him and he smiles back.

"Captain Ogord is taking me to his ship to be a part of his mechanics team so that I have more opportunities to excel. Not that I wouldn't here, Captain," He says quickly, and Yondu nods. "Anyway, I just wanted to say bye and that it was great meeting you. I've gotta go pack, we're leaving right now." He smiles at me and I smile back, making it look real.

"That's awesome, dude! Congratulations! Go get packed! It was great meeting you too and I hope I'll see you around." He smiles and runs out of the mess hall. My smile slowly falls and I keep it on a bit as I force the food down my throat.

"You OK, Rogue?" Quill asks and I smile reassuringly at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess that I'm just a little tired."

"Your day was kinda busy, wasn't it?" He smiles at me and I nod. "Finish up and head to bed." I nod and finish my food before dumping the tray on the cart, going to my room.

I sit on my bed when I get there and wrap my arms around myself a bit, before deciding to do something that was probably really stupid. I pack all of my stuff into my bag and quickly go to the hangar, noticing Stakar was busy talking to Jay and the rest of his crew on the other side. I quietly sneak onto his ship and hide in between some crates. I hear some heavy footsteps and then the door is shutting.

"Strap in, boy!" Stakar hollers and I curse myself, forgetting about that part, as I carefully move to grab hold of a pipe to keep myself steady.

"Aye, Captain," Jay responds and I nod a bit, not caring if this was a stupid idea. I was not going to let my first true friend leave me alone on the _Eclector_ and with my insane family. I feel us leave the hangar and go through a jump before we dock again, in Stakar's hangar. I listen as people get off and walk away, the door staying open. I start to get up and freeze when I hear more people coming onto the ship, right where I am. Someone suddenly grabs me by the back of my bag and drags me off of the ship, throwing me at Stakar's feet.

"Caught a stow-away, Captain." I get up and look at Stakar, seeing his shock.

"What are you doing here?" I see Jay standing nearby and he smiles at me. Stakar follows my gaze and nods a bit, scoffing slightly. "You stowed away here because of Jay?" I nod a bit and he looks at me.

"Please, either let me stay or take both of us back. He's the first real friend I've ever had and my heart sank when I heard he was leaving," I say softly and he looks at me sadly then something dawns on him as he looks pissed. I notice and take a step back.

"This ain't for you. Rogue, Jay, follow me." He leaves the hangar and Jay and I fall into step right behind him as we go to the control room. He sits in a chair and barks "Call Yondu. And send a message for Quill to be there too."

\--------

_"Captain, Captain Ogord is calling you. And he sent a message that he wants Quill with you."_ Yondu stands and drags Quill to the control room while Kraglin and Gamora follow. He sits in his chair and answers the call.

\--------

Jay and I stand on either side of Stakar and can see Yondu and Quill's shock when they see me there. _"How in the Hell did she get there?!"_

"Quill, shut up unless I speak to you," Stakar growls and Quill snaps his mouth shut quickly. "Yondu, did you know Quill was the one to approach me with taking Jay onto my ship?"

_"No, Sir. I didn'."_ He glares at Quill and he looked nervous.

"Well, he did. To keep him away from Rogue. And strip her of her first real friend." Quill winces a bit as if he'd gotten slapped in the face and I glance at Jay slightly. "And take Jay away from his older Ravager brother, Fang. Did you know about those two things, Quill?"

_"No, Sir, I didn't."_ He nods and looks between the two of us.

"I'll bring them both back tomorrow. And Quill. Lighten up." He hangs up and looks at the two of us. "I only have one empty room..."

"We can share, Captain." Jay and I say at the same time and he just nods.

"Marty, lead them to it and make sure Jay eats something." Martinex nods and leads us to the room before coming back with some food for Jay.

"Thank you, Sir." Martinex smiles and leaves us be. Jay sits and eats his food as I sit next to him.

"This is a cool thing..."

"It was cool that you stowed away. Just to stay with me." He smiles at me and I smile shyly at him. I suddenly lean over and peck his cheek before sitting back up, blushing. "Wh-What was that for?" He gapes at me and I blush more.

"Just, um... Just as like a thank you... And as an, I like you kiss..." I blush more and look to see he was too, just blue. He leans over and gently pecks my cheek.

"Well, um... There's an I like you kiss back, then..." He blushes more and I smile brightly. "Your smile is so pretty..." I look at my lap shyly and can feel all of the day weighing on me. He notices and quickly finishes eating. "Let's go to bed. You look as exhausted as I feel." I smile and we both climb into the bed to stay warm, making sure there was enough distance between us so Quill wouldn't freak if he found out, but we do hold hands under the blankets. I fall asleep and had a smile on my face.

\------

Jay wakes when I'm squeezing his hand very tightly and looks at me. "Rogue?" He whispers and lets his eyes adjust, seeing that I'm still asleep. He gently pulls me close and wraps his arms around me, holding me close. I whimper softly in my sleep and he pets my hair. "Shh... It's alright..." He hums softly and I relax, one of my hands in his shirt. He sits against the wall and sets my head on his shoulder, petting my hair. He falls back to sleep like that and we both sleep through the night.

\------

I wake up and rub my eyes, sitting up quickly when I realize I had my head on Jay's shoulder. Someone's coming towards the door and I quickly move to the other side of the bed, rubbing my eyes as Stakar comes in. He raises an eyebrow at us in bed together and I look at him. "What?"

"Why are you both in that bed?"

"We didn't want the other to be cold. We stayed on opposite sides, Gramps. I promise," I say as Jay starts to wake and he hears, nodding a bit.

"The whole night, Captain." He yawns and Stakar nods, trusting us.

"Well, get up. We're leaving for the _Eclector_ now. You can both eat when you're back on your true ship. And Jay." Jay looks at him as we get out of bed and I watch them. "If you want to come back to the _Starhawk_ later on, I'll welcome you. The offer still stands on the condition you two stay friends. Or more if that's what you wish to do." He smiles at us and I busy myself with grabbing my bag from under the bed to hide my slight blush.

"Thank you, Captain. I'll keep that in mind. Will it stand after a while?"

"Of course." He smiles and we both head with Stakar to the hangar before boarding his ship. "Both of you strap in." We sit in the seats behind his and strap in. Jay looks over at me and smiles charmingly. I smile back and watch as Stakar pilots back to the _Eclector_ , loving to watch people pilot so that I can try to learn that way.

Stakar docks in the hangar and Jay and I unstrap before following Stakar out of his ship, seeing Yondu and Kraglin waiting in the hangar. I look around a bit and see the _Milano_ was gone, glad that I don't have to be around Quill for a while before noticing both Yondu and Kraglin looked pissed while looking at me. I gulp a bit and Jay just barely nudges me with his elbow, making me calm down a bit.

"It'll be OK," He whispers to me, his lips barely moving, and I quirk the corners of my mouth up for a moment before lowering them again.

"Thanks," I whisper back and he brushes his hand against mine as we walk side by side behind Stakar towards the two of them. 

"Girl, yer insane." Yondu looks at me and I nod a bit. "An' both'a ya are gonna be cleanin' all'a these ships." I open my mouth to argue and Jay stomps on my foot slightly.

"Aye, Captain," We say at the same time, and Yondu waves for us to get started. I punch Jay and he rubs his arm, looking at me.

"Ow!"

"Now you know how my foot feels!" I hiss at him and we work together to clean the ships. "I'll work on the tops, you work on the bottoms." He nods and we do just that, talking through our earpieces as we do. 

By the time we're done, we're both starving and go to mess to get food, no one else in there. "This is nice... No other noise... It kinda reminds me of nights on Terra when I'd sneak out to watch the stars..." I say once we're sitting down and he nods, eating.

"What's it like?"

"Terra?" He nods and I tilt my head to the side a bit as I take a bite, thinking. "It's colorful... We have four seasons... Spring, where all of the flowers and trees come to life... Summer where it gets hot and everything keeps coming to life... Fall or autumn where everything dies... And winter, where everything is dead but it's snowy and it's fun to play in... When everything is alive, though... It's beautiful... All of the colors just go together..." He smiles at me as I talk and I eat, blushing a bit.

"Nothing can be as pretty as you, though." He smiles and I blush more, eating.

"Thanks..."

"What else did you like about Terra?"

"Hm... The hills... It was so much fun to roll down them in the summer or spring... Oh, and the leaves during the fall... They'd fall off of trees and you'd gather them up... It was so much fun to jump in piles of leaves... And Halloween's my favorite holiday on Terra! You get to dress up as whatever you want and go door to door to get free candy! It was awesome!" I smile brightly and he smiles back. "There are so many holidays that were fun! There's Independence Day, where you launch fireworks into the night sky to see them explode into colors among the stars! And Christmas where you'd get gifts from Santa Clause! Oh, and Thanksgiving was kinda cool, you got to eat as much as you wanted without looking like you had too much. I guess that birthdays were pretty cool, too... You got cake." 

He chuckles, listening to me, and I smile at him. "When's your birthday?"

"I'm not sure exactly when but I think it was in the fall or winter or something." I shrug and he looks at me. "My grandparents didn't celebrate my birthday for me, they just kept track of how old I was. Kat and I always celebrated mine in winter, so I'm guessing that's when it was." He nods and pulls something up on a holopad, showing it to me.

"Which part of Terra were you on?" I show him and he clicks it. "It's on the side farthest from the solar star. What does that mean?"

"It means it's winter there and my guessed birthday. I guess I'm eleven now." I chuckle and he puts the holopad up before looking around nervously. "What are you doing?"

"I have a present for you. Since you're sorta eleven now." He leans over the table and pecks my lips quickly before sitting back down, smiling at me with a blue face.

"You know, that was a pretty good present..." I blush and he chuckles. I hear people coming and we both quickly finish eating before dumping our trays on the cart. We start to leave the mess and I into some of the bigger Ravagers, making me lose my balance. Jay catches my arm and rights me before quickly moving me out of the way as the Ravagers continue walking.

"You have to watch where you're going." He scolds me and I roll my eyes as we go back to the hangar. "I can't have you getting squished by the big guys before we're able to go out on a date when we're older." He smirks at me, blushing a little blue, and I laugh a bit, blushing too. We go into the hangar and start to work on something together.

"Girl!" Someone yells and I jump, hitting my head, before quickly standing straight to glare at Taz. "Wha' are ya doin' with 'im?" I look at Jay and he looks at me.

"Tuning up Captain's M-ship," Jay says and I nod. "Unlike the rest of you, I want to make sure all of the ships are ready for any missions and Rogue agrees with me." I nod again and Taz looks at me.

"Wha'? Ya lettin' 'im speak fer ya?"

"No, he just phrased it well and I agree. Also, I have a damn name. So start using it cuz my name ain't 'girl'. The only ones who can call me that are Captain and Kraglin because they're the two highest ranks on the ship. You, Taz, can start using my damned name, or else I'm gonna find that Orloni from yesterday and shove it in bed with you while you sleep. Got it?" I had my back to the door and don't notice Jay trying to get me to shut up.

"What's going on here?" Someone says from behind me as I'm yanked away by the back of my jacket and I'm greeted by the Lead Mechanic, Fang.

"Nothing, Fang," Jay says and comes over. "Just a little disagreement. They're fine. Right, guys?" Taz nods and they all look at me. "Right, Rogue?" He hisses at me and I nod, looking at Fang.

"Right." He nods and lets me go.

"Get back to work and stay away from each other if you're going to have disagreements that distract you," He says simply and Taz goes to the other side of the hangar while I go back to Jay to continue working on Yondu's ship. "Why are you working on Captain's M-ship?" We look at each other before looking at Jay and I lie through my teeth.

"Captain asked us to make sure it was tuned up for any upcoming missions." He nods and leaves to go do his own thing. I sigh softly and wipe my face with my dirty hand. Jay leans over and wipes grease off of my cheek, blushing a bit when some Ravager whistles at us.

"You had some grease..." He mumbles as he goes back to work and I smile, helping him out. "Your hand is smaller than mine so I'm going to put you on my shoulders so you can get up there." I nod and he picks me up to stand on his shoulders so I can reach what he needs done. I get it done and try to take my hand out but it's stuck. "You OK up there?"

"Yeah, just a second..." I yank my hand out and he loses his balance, causing us to end up in a heap on the floor with a crash of a nearby cart of tools, some tools falling on my leg.

"You OK, Rogue?" He asks, worried, and I nod as I stand, wincing slightly at some pain in my leg. "Your leg's hurt."

"I'm fine." I try to walk but it gives out on me and he catches me before I can hit the floor. "OK, maybe it's a little hurt..." I mutter and he sweeps me into his arms, carrying me to med as he contacts Yondu. He sets me down on a bed and Doc comes over to me, looking my leg over.

Yondu comes in and grabs Jay by the collar. "Wha' happened ta her?" He growls and I look at them.

"Captain," I call carefully and he looks at me, eyes narrowed. "We were working on an M-ship and I had my hand in a small spot when I lost control of my blaster boots. They stopped working and I fell, knocking tools onto my leg," I explain and Yondu looks back at Jay.

"Tha' true?" He growls at him and Jay glances at me before nodding.

"Yes, Captain," He lies, and Yondu nods. Doc goes over to Yondu and they talk. Jay comes over to me and we talk to each other softly, since Kraglin is watching us with narrowed eyes. "If he finds out that's a lie, he's going to kill us."

"No, he won't. He'll just light our asses on fire or give us a bunch of stuff to do to keep us from getting into trouble. Now shut up," I hiss at him as Yondu comes over and he shuts his mouth.

"C'mon, boy. Yer comin' with us," He says to Jay as he picks me up and they start walking back to the hangar. Yondu goes towards his M-ship and Jay and I look at each other nervously. "Damn." He turns and goes to another M-ship, getting on it. He puts me in a seat and pushes Jay into another one. "Strap in." We both do that and he pilots us out of the hangar and through a jump before landing on a planet with a lot of tall buildings.

"Xandar?" Jay looks at Yondu as he unstraps and gets me out of my seat. Jay follows him as he walks towards a building and I look at it. "It's the local healing office. Terrans call them hospitals, I think." He explains and I nod a bit.

"I need a Doc." The lady at the desk looks at him then at me and I manage to look very pathetic.

"What happened?"

"She jumped off of'a ledge, tryin' ta look cool." He lies easily and she taps some stuff on the holoscreen in front of her. 

"Xandarian?"

"Terran." She looks at us then taps on the screen again and talks to somebody on an earpiece.

"Set her in this chair and follow it to floor three, room three hundred two." A chair appears next to us and Yondu sets me in it, grabbing Jay's collar as they follow me onto an elevator.

"I was trying to look cool?" I look at Yondu and the look he gives me makes me shut up. The chair moves out of the elevator to a room and a doctor was waiting for us.

"Well, hello there." He smiles at me and he had a couple of metal contraptions in his hands. He presses something on the chair and it suddenly turns into a bed. "So, what happened?"

"Well, I'm not a doctor, but my leg isn't supposed to be causing me this much pain. So, I'm guessing I broke it." I snark and Yondu slaps me upside my head while the doctor chuckles. 

"That's fair enough. Let's take some pictures and see what we have, shall we?" He sets the contraption in his right hand down and hovers the one in his left hand over my leg. I watch and was holding the hand that was stuck in the engine close to my chest. "Does your hand hurt as well?" He looks at me and I shrug a bit. He finishes scanning my leg and does the same thing with my hand.

He taps a few things and two pictures pop up above it. "Well, it seems that you broke your leg and arm. How'd you manage that by jumping off of a ledge?"

"A brick fell after I hit the ground and landed on my arm." I lie and he nods.

"What's a brick?"

"A piece of the ledge fell and landed on my hand." I correct and he nods again.

"Well, they're both clean breaks and will heal in a week." He smiles at me and I nod. "Let's start with your leg." He smiles at me and grabs my leg above and below the break.

"Um, what are y- FUCKING BASTARD!" I yell when he sets the bone and he chuckles a bit.

"Well, people say setting the bone hurts less when they don't know it's coming."

"Well, now I want to fucking kill you!" I growl and start to get up only to be pushed down by Yondu and Jay.

"Calm down, Rogue. Just hold still and we'll be out of here before you know it." Jay grabs my hand and moves it away from my body so that the doctor can set it. "Now, breathe and you'll be fine." I try to take my hand back and he stops me by holding my arm while the doctor holds my wrist. "It's gonna hurt for a second then it's done and it'll feel better." He holds my shoulder too and Yondu holds my other one to keep me from moving a lot, nodding to the doctor. 

He sets it quickly and I growl through my teeth, digging my fingernails into Yondu's other hand that was near my uninjured one before letting it go. The doctor grabs the other contraption and puts it on my leg, pressing a button so that lasers are coming out of it. He then grabs a second one and does the same thing to my arm. "Alright, bed rest for a week and no hard activity for your leg and arm. Follow those rules and you'll be back to normal in that time frame. She'll be able to walk, just not too far and no running." He smiles at me and Yondu nods. He presses a button and the bed is back to being a chair before we're escorted out of the room.

Once we're outside, Jay picks me up and Yondu lets him. "The guy said I could walk, Jay."

"He also said not too far."

"The ship's too far," Yondu says simply and Jay nods his agreement. "Thought ya'd be happy ta be in yer boys arms." He smirks at us and neither of us says anything, blushing slightly.

"He's gonna have too much fun with that," Jay mumbles to me and I nod a bit.

"Oh. Almos' fergittin' somethin'." Yondu gets on the ship and looks at us, eyes narrowed. "The two 'a ya ever lie ta me 'gain, yer gonna be pickin' yer asses outta tha' solar star. Ya git it?" He growls and we nod.

"Got it, Captain." We say together and he sits as Jay sets me in a seat before sitting in his seat, both of us strapping in.

"Was a good lie." Yondu looks at me and I look back at him. "Need ta work on 'em still, girl." I nod and he pilots us back to the _Eclector._


	9. Chapter 9

After two weeks, I'm still on bed rest at Yondu's orders and Kraglin brings me something to eat. "Kraglin, if you don't let me get out of this damned bed, I'm going to stab myself just so I can go to med." He scoffs and rolls his eyes. I take the food and eat it.

"Cap'n's orders. An' he'd make ya stay in bed an' bring Doc ta ya." I groan and throw my arm over my eyes. There's a knock on my open door and I look to see Jay there. "Least ya git a buddy." He smirks at me and I throw my pillow at him. He ducks and it goes flying into Yondu's face as he comes in, shutting the door and setting something next to it.

"Why's it always got to be you I hit?" I rub my face and sit up a bit, looking at him. "Are you here to extend my sentence or end it?" Jay rolls his eyes and leans against the dresser.

"How's yer arm an' leg feel?"

"They feel great. Gramps, come on. The stupid laser brace things have been off for a week. I'm healed up. When can I get out of this bed?" I make sure I don't swear because last time I did, Yondu extended how long I had to stay in bed and he looks at me.

"Git outta bed an' stan' on yer foot." I do and almost lose my balance a couple of times because it sucks. "A'ight. Gimme yer arm." I hold my arm out to him and he feels it over carefully before letting me go. "A'ight. Ya can leave yer room." I run my hand through my hair with a grimace and he scoffs.

"Gross..." I look at him and he looks at me. "Did you get the stuff from that one chick?" He nods and grabs the bag he had set by the door. "Thank you."

"Yeah. Don' ya lie ta me 'gain, girl." I gape at him and he smirks.

"You had me stay in bed for a week because I lied to you?" He just smirks and I'm pissed. "Know what? I'm suddenly not sorry about hitting you in the face with a pillow anymore." He chuckles and I put my hands on my hips. "Alright, all of you. Get out." I wave for them to do that and they all stand there, looking at me. "I'm going to take a shower. Get out." I shoo them out and Yondu and Kraglin leave while Jay stays in.

"I can't stay?" He teases with a smirk and I go over to him, making him lose the smirk with the glare I had on my face. "I was kidding!" I grab him by his collar and physically throw him out of my room before slamming the door shut. "So that's a 'no'?!" He calls through the door and I hear a couple of smacks.

"Git ta work, boy!" The two of them yell and I hear him run off, shaking my head a bit. I go to the connected bathroom that only a few rooms had and quickly take a shower, using the shampoo, conditioner, and body wash that Yondu got me.

I finish up and go to my room to get clean clothes, a towel wrapped around me to see someone digging around my room. "HEY! Get the fuck out!" I yell and grab my blaster from the bathroom, pointing it at them. They look up and it's a Skrull that looks like me. "Fuck..." I run back into the bathroom and slam the door, grabbing my wrist com as I lock the door. My finger hovers over Yondu's frequency but I think better of it, not knowing who could be a Skrull on the ship right now and instead click Stakar's for video style before quickly pulling my shirt on, setting the wrist com on the counter.

I yank the rest of my clothes on while I wait for him to answer and slap it onto my wrist, thinking as there's pounding on my door. "Answer, Stakar..." I growl and rub a towel over my hair to try to dry it. I hear heavy footsteps outside of the door and can recognize them as Yondu, or a Skrull looking like Yondu.

\--------

"Captain, transmission from the _Eclector_." Stakar goes over to his seat and answers.

_"Stakar, a Skrull got on the ship an' locked itself in the girl's room. There could be more an' I wanted ta let ya know. Krags thought it'd be smart."_ Yondu says and Stakar nods before Yondu hangs up. 

"Captain, transmission from an unknown frequency," Stakar answers it and sees me. Or the Skrull looking like me.

\-------

"Stakar! Fucking finally! A Skrull snuck into my room and looks like me! What the Hell do I do? I don't have enough training for this type of thing!" I hiss, hiding in the vents right now, and he narrows his eyes at me. "Stakar?"

_"How do I know you're the real one and not the Skrull?"_

"Are you kidding me?! Fine! Fuck you!" I snarl and end the transmission, crawling through the vents quietly. Someone suddenly opens a vent opening and sticks their arm in. I quickly backtrack into someone else's waiting arms and they drag me out. I fight as hard as I can and they hit me in the stomach, winding me. I bite them and they drop me. I quickly roll away and see Taz shaking out his hand.

"Damned Skrulls," He growls and someone else grabs me, tying my hands behind my back before lifting me and tying my ankles together. They throw me over their shoulder and takes me to the mess, throwing me onto the floor, after I recognized Kraglin as the one holding me. I grunt and someone yanks me up until I'm kneeling, staring at the entire crew with Kraglin and Yondu in front of me while the Skrull was slightly behind them looking scared and clinging to Jay in an indiscernible way and he was letting her, holding her close by her hand.

"You, Skrull, will be killed for breaking onto the _Eclector_ and trying to steal me," The fake me says and I glare at it. Once it catches my eye, it smirks at me and I snap as adrenaline and the need to survive kicks in.

I reach up and dislocate my shoulder as I grab my knife from the top of my back, slicing my ropes quickly before attacking the fake me. They dodge me and grab my other knife from my thigh before circling me. I growl and circle them too.

"How's your shoulder, you filthy cunt bucket?" They snarl and lunge at me.

"Tackling you fixed it right up, bitch. Thanks for the concern." I roll away and hit them in the back of the legs with my elbow, knocking them down. I stand and go over to them only to be kicked away after they suddenly roll over.

"That means I get to have some real fun. It'll be perfect after being stuck in bed for weeks." They lunge at me and I charge them, stabbing them in the stomach and sliding the blade through their chest, getting green blood all over me. They gasp and go limp. I grab their shoulder and stab them a few more times for good measure before dropping them.

"Fucking asshat," I growl and kick them in the head once.

"You got a knife stuck in your shoulder!" One of the Ravagers yells and I look at my shoulder to see that they were right. I grab it and yank it out of my shoulder.

"You guys happy with the color of my blood or do I need to bleed some more?" I snarl and look around, seeing no one make eye contact with me. I notice the Skrull get up and grab one of the Ravagers blasters, shooting it right in the head. It falls and I shoot it until no space of the body wasn't bleeding. "Here." I give the blaster back to the Ravager I took it from and press a hand to my shoulder to try to slow the bleeding. Kraglin comes over and reaches for me.

"I'll help ya ta Doc." I smack his hand away and he steps back at the knife suddenly pointing at him.

"Don't fucking touch me! You tied me up and threw me to the damned floor! You know what fucking color Skrulls bleed and instead of making me bleed with a cut, you brought me to the fucking mess hall and were going to fucking kill me! So fuck all the way off away from me! I can take my own damned self to med!" I snarl and spin, leaving the mess hall to go to med.

"Rogue! Wait up!" Jay yells as he chases after me and I stop in the doorway, turning once he's close enough. I punch him in the face and knock him on his ass in front of the whole crew. He looks at me and I glare down at him.

"Leave. Me. Alone." I bark and he was shocked into silence, along with the rest of the crew. I go to med and sit on a bed while Doc patches me up.

"Thanks, Doc." They nod at me and I leave after changing into the clean clothes someone had brought me. I hold my jacket over my uninjured shoulder as I go to the hangar to start working for the day. The other mechanics avoid me, including Jay, and I work on some ships, not petty enough to mess them up.

I'm working on another ship and notice the mechanics going over the ships I'd already worked on. "Make sure it works still, boy." I look them over and see them trying to get Jay to double-check it.

"Rogue may be pissed at us, but she wouldn't mess with the ships!" He growls and I see a bruise forming on his face from where I punched him. I quietly go over to them and stand next to Jay, arms crossed over my chest.

"If you guys have a problem with me, don't go behind my back with it. All that does is make you guys look like a bunch of cowards. Unless I've got it mixed up with some other group like the Skrulls or the Kree, Ravagers aren't cowards! Now, any of you got a problem with me?" I look around the group and one of them steps forwards. 

"Did ya mess with any'a the ships?" All of them look at me and I look at him.

"No, I didn't. I would never be that much of a coward. Or risk hurting any person on this crew because I'm pissed. I can give you all my word that I will never mess with any ships on the _Eclector_." I take my knife out and spin it around my hand a bit. "Unless you're mutinous towards Captain or Kraglin. If that happens, you can guarantee that your ship won't help at all to get you away from my wrath. Are we clear?!" I look around the hangar and vaguely notice Kraglin and Yondu standing in the doorway. 

"I said. Are. We. Clear?!" I bellow and the mechanics team nod. "Good." I put my knife back in my thigh holster and they go back to work. "By the way, how about instead of wasting time checking over my work, you work on some of the other ships so they're ready for the next mission?" They grumble but go to do that as Jay looks at me and I look at him.

"You still pissed?"

"Yeah. But, I'm less pissed now. So, sorry about your face." He shrugs and tilts his head a bit.

"It's not too bad. Besides, on the next planetside trip, I can just say I got in a fight with a big guy and came out with just this bruise." He smiles charmingly at me and I roll my eyes.

"Yeah, a natural Muhammad Ali." I scoff and he looks at me, confused. "Forget it." He chuckles and leans forward to peck my cheek. "And you have a death wish." I chuckle and he looks at me, confused. "Behind you." He turns to see Yondu and Kraglin stalking towards him and looks at me.

"Might as well make dying worth my while." He grabs my face and kisses my lips for a couple of seconds before pulling away with a smirk. "If I die today, at least I got to kiss a pretty girl." He winks at me and runs off with Yondu and Kraglin chasing him. I watch them and laugh as the mechanics team whistles.

"Shut up and get back to work!" I yell and go back to work myself. I watch Jay slide under a ship just to knock over a cart before getting up and taking off out of the hangar, Kraglin still hot on his heels while Yondu comes over to me.

"Did ya like tha' kiss, girl?" He asks and I shrug a bit. "Ya did." He smirks and I continue working on the ship. "Wha' ya like 'bout it?" I look at him and he had a shit-eating grin on his face.

"The fact that he did it just to make the possibility of you and Kraglin killing him worth his while."

"Do ya like the boy?" I shrug and he looks at me.

"He's a good friend. And I'm glad that my first kiss was him." He chuckles and walks away as I continue to work on the ship.

Jay comes back a while later with a shiner and busted lip, coming over to help me. "So? Was it worth it?" He looks at me and smiles.

"Definitely. You'll always be worth it."


	10. Chapter 10

I've been on the _Eclector_ for a year and was now twelve. My stomach has been hurting and my appetite has been either huge or tiny. I go to see Doc and they look at me. "Hello, Rogue. How can I help you today?"

"Do you have anything on Terran biology? My stomach's been hurting lately and I've been either hungry or not at all, it keeps flip-flopping over the place, same with my mood. I don't have a fever or chills or anything that would mean I'm sick." They direct me to come into a private room and I go into it, sitting on the bed. They pull up a holoscreen and scroll through some things to show me.

"You're probably going through puberty right now. And it seems as though you might be near the start of your menstrual cycle."

"What's that?"

"It says that Terrans also call it a 'period'?" I tilt my head to the side, confused, and they sigh. "Did you not learn about this on Terra?"

"Nope. I was going to learn it the day after Captain picked me up, but that obviously didn't happen." They nod a bit and rub their face. "So, what is puberty?"

"It's what teenagers and twelve-year-olds go through. Your body changes." They motion towards my chest and I nod a bit.

"So I get tits?"

"Where'd you learn that word?!"

"Captain, Kraglin, and the male crew." They sigh and roll their eyes.

"For lack of a better phrase, yes. You will get 'tits', however, I'll be calling them breasts."

"OK. What else happens during it?"

"Well, you start to get hair on your body. It'll be dark on your legs and underarms compared to the rest of your body. And you'll get hair in... That area." They motion towards my groin area and I nod a bit. "A menstrual cycle is when your uterus in your..." They rub their face, not in the mood for this, and sigh.

"I can ask Captain about it if you want." They laugh at that and I look at them, confused.

"No, no. It's alright. I'll explain it. Your uterus is in your vagina. That area." I nod and they nod back. "Your ovaries, higher up, will release hormones called estrogen and progesterone. The hormones cause the lining of your uterus, or womb, to build up and it will be ready for a fertilized egg to be attached and develop. An egg is what the female has when they get pregnant and sperm is what the male has."

"OK."

"OK. If a fertilized egg doesn't come, then the built-up lining will break down in the form of bleeding, which is your period. According to this, you have it..." They look at it and their eyes widen a bit. "Once every month for about a week-cycle... Now I understand why it says teenage Terrans aren't happy for them, according to this... It also affects your mood."

"So I bleed once every month without being injured?" They nod and I make a soft sound in thought. "Huh... Doesn't sound too bad. What do I do to keep my underwear clean, then?" They swipe through the holoscreen and show me what it says. "A pad, which goes on my underwear, or a tampon, which goes inside me? I think I'll stick with the pad, thanks..." They chuckle and pat my shoulder gently.

"Go tell Captain that you need to make a trip planetside to buy some supplies. You should also get some pain relievers for cramping pains. And Yondu and Kraglin have to be the ones to take you."

"OK. Thanks, Doc." I smile at them and leave to go find Yondu, hearing them laughing as I leave.

I find him in mess with Kraglin, Dad, and the rest of the Guardians and I get some food, kinda hungry before I sit next to them. "You gonna bite my head off anymore?" Dad glares at me and I smile at him as I take a bite of food, making him look at me in confusion. "OK, what the Hell is up with you?" He takes a bite of food and I swallow most of the food in my mouth.

"Hang on and I'll answer that." I look at Yondu and he looks at me, raising an eyebrow. "I need to make a stop planetside."

"Wha' fer?"

"I need supplies."

"Naw ya don'. Ya got plenty 'a supplies onboard."

"Not the ones I need." He puts his empty food containers down and looks at me, patience gone. The others were also done eating and put their containers down to watch, also curious.

"Girl, wha' are ya on 'bout now?" He grabs his mug of coffee and takes a drink.

"I need to make a stop planetside to get pain relievers for cramps and pads to catch menstrual cycle blood." He chokes on his coffee and coughs.

"Wha' now?!" I start to repeat myself and he cuts me off with a wave of his hand. "Ah heard wha'cha said!"

"Then why'd you act like you didn't?" He glares at me and I take a bite of my food, noticing Gamora was watching me.

"Girl, help her with tha'." He looks at Gamora and she nods.

"I will take her planetside and get her the things that she needs."

"Doc said you two had to take me." I point at Yondu and Kraglin and they gape at me.

"Yer fully serious?" I nod and they rub their faces. "'M gonna kill Doc..."

"No, you won't. Doc is a good Doc. And the only one onboard the ship." I say reasonably and get hit in the head by Yondu. "Well, it's true!" I kinda huff and finish my food, hungrier than I thought I was before I put my tray on the cart. Gamora was chuckling softly and I sit back down at Yondu's insistence.

"Doc say if tha' mess with yer mood?" I nod and he raises an eyebrow at me.

"It affects my mood, yes." He rubs his face and stands, leaving.

"C'mon, then!" He barks and I quickly follow, Kraglin right behind me. "Ya too, girl!" Gamora follows and smiles down at me.

"This will be very entertaining." I smile and follow Yondu and Kraglin to the hangar. Yondu sits in the pilot seat with Kraglin in the co-pilot seat. Gamora and I sit in the other two seats and strap in before Yondu can say anything. He pilots out of the hangar and planetside to buy me the supplies.

Yondu and Kraglin walk stiffly beside me and Gamora into the store and Gamora has me talk to one of the Krylorian attendants at the counter. "Hello." They ignore me and I glare at them. "Hello! I need some assistance from you, pink lady!" I yell at her and she looks around then down at me.

"Excuse me?"

"You didn't answer me and I need help."

"Are you lost, little girl?" She smirks at me and I glare at her.

"I'll have you know, I'm twelve years old. And I need menstrual cycle supplies for Terrans." She looks me up and down, having to lean over the counter to do so because I wasn't very tall, and starts to type on her holoscreen to her right. I flip her off and smile innocently at her when she looks at me again.

"We have some supplies for Terrans in the back. I'll bring them out to you now." I smile and she goes to get them.

"Ya gotta at leas' act like ya like people, girl." Yondu scoffs and I look at him.

"I disagree, but OK." The Krylorian comes back and sets different sizes of supplies down.

"Git wha'cha think ya need, girl." I push pads in different sizes towards her and the lady looks at me.

"Just those?"

"Do you have pain relievers?" She nods and grabs a large bottle after seeing what was safe for me, starting to ring everything up.

"That will be two hundred and fifty-five units."

"Will those pills give me super strength and the pads turn to gold before I toss them? How the Hell is it that much?!" I can feel Yondu glaring and the lady gulps a bit, looking above my head at the three of them.

"My mistake... It seems as though I added it up too many times... One hundred units and the pain relievers are free with your first purchase with us along with complimentary chocolates... How silly of me to forget that..." She chuckles nervously and puts everything in a bag while Yondu pays, adding some chocolate. "Th-Thank you for shopping with us..." Yondu takes the bag and leads me out.

When we get back on the ship, I dig around in the bag for the chocolate and take a small piece out, eating it. "Thanks." I smile at them and Yondu and Kraglin just nod, piloting us back to the _Eclector_. 

"You are welcome, Rogue." Gamora smiles at me and I hold the bag in my lap, remembering how much I loved chocolate on Terra as I slowly eat another piece. "May I have a piece?" I nod and give her a piece of chocolate. "Thank you." She eats it and smiles at me, glad to see me looking happy. "You are very happy about such small things." The guys were listening and I nibble on the chocolate, thinking.

"I guess... I like the little things... Especially stuff from Terra that I liked... I forgot how good chocolate was." I smile and she smiles gently at me as I kinda kick my legs absentmindedly. Kraglin glances back to see me with a wide smile as I eat chocolate, talking to Gamora about Terran things, and rolls his eyes as he turns back around.

"Ya miss Terra, girl?" Yondu asks and I look at the back of his head, thinking.

"Sometimes... I miss visiting my Mom's grave..." I finish the chocolate and look out the window into the deep. "But, I like being out here with you guys and the rest of the crew. I get regular meals, clean clothes, a comfortable bed, and Doc helps me out whenever I need it. Plus, I get to look at the stars whenever I want to. And I guess Dad being around is pretty cool, too. When he isn't being an asshat... And... Yeah... It's nicer out here than on Terra." I was going to say that they were like family but changed my mind and smile.

"Plus, I get awesome blaster boots and I get to steal shit! It's awesome!" They scoff and I smile brightly, holding the bag close to my chest. "And you guys may be crazy, annoying, bossy-"

"Git ta the point." Kraglin looks at me and I smile brightly at him.

"You guys are the same level of nice I think my Mom was." He blushes a little blue and just grunts in response, turning around again.

"You remind me of Peter when you smile like that." Gamora smiles and I smile back at her, not minding this time.

"You kinda remind me of Kat, who was kinda like my Mom, too." I look out into the deep again and my smile fades a little bit. "She would've loved to see all of this... She taught me a lot of the constellations on Terra..." I say softly and rest my chin on top of the bag, missing her and Mom a lot right now.

Yondu docks in the hangar and the other two get off. I unstrap from my seat and Yondu looks at me. "Girl." I look at him and he was holding a holopad. "Give it a smile." I smile brightly and he takes a picture.

"What's that for?" He just shrugs and puts it in his pocket, winking at me. "You're weird, Yondu." I smile and get off of the ship with him, going to my room to put the stuff in my bathroom.

I leave my room with a medium-sized pad on and get to work, after taking a pain reliever.


	11. Chapter 11

When my menstrual cycle is over, Yondu has me stand in on a mission briefing and I listen to the lead strategist for missions, Nadrun. "Then the kid will be in the vents to sneak in a hack into security." They all look at me and I freeze where I was putting my hair in a ponytail.

"Wait, what?"

"You're going to be in the vents and you're going to sneak into the security area to take control of it. You've been practicing the reading and writing of other languages, right?" I nod and he makes a slight motion of his hand. "Then you'll be fine. You've just got to deactivate the security system and make sure no one comes in to reactivate it with any amount of force necessary. Easy."

"Alright." I listen to the rest of the plan and it included a lot of stealing for everyone else. Yondu and Kraglin were staying on the _Eclector_ and they were trusting me to pilot a ship with other Ravagers on board in case something went south.

"Don't let nothin' go tha' way, girl," Yondu says as we go to the hangar and I nod.

"Nothing will go wrong. Easy mission. Nearly impossible to fuck up. I got this." He nods and pats my shoulder before I board the _Piranha_ , going to the pilot's seat.

"Don't make us crash, kid," Taz scoffs and I simply flip him off, sitting in the seat before strapping in. "I'm serious. We're the only team that's leaving now to make sure you don't fuck up."

"Fuck off, Taz. I know a guy that I can get Orlonis from. Don't test me." I pilot out of the hangar and follow the course that Nadrun had set to get planetside.

When I land, I get out of the pilot's chair and Taz pats me on the back, making me stumble a step. "Good job not killing us. Get to work and contact us when you got it down."

"See you in about five minutes then." I attach a blaster to my other thigh and slip out of my jacket, setting it on the pilot's chair. "Can't let everyone know we're here by the colors and flames, now can I?" I ask at their confused faces and Taz scoffs while the other three(Uttuls, Stradho, and Grugzak) roll their eyes. "See you, boys, shortly." I wink at them and slide down the ladder to land on the empty field in the forest, activating my mask as I land.

"Easy mission... Nearly impossible to fuck up... I got this..." I murmur to myself and take a short breath before moving quickly through the trees, climbing them now and then when someone comes into the area.

I see the facility after a few minutes and climb up a tree to get level with the vent, walking on the branch to get closer to it. I carefully open the vent and go inside it, closing the opening after me. "Alright... Let's do this... This is easy... You've done it hundreds of times..." I move quietly through the vents and get to the security room, two Sheelmoit in there. I take a slow breath and lean myself down from the vent, upside down, before blasting them with my two blasters. They seize up and fall to the floor, unconscious. I pull myself back into the vent before dropping to the floor, wincing a bit, and go over to the security equipment.

"Alright... I know what this says... Um..." I look at it and bite my lip a bit before I just destroy the entire thing. Nothing happens and I watch it for a few moments before I press my right ear. "Alright. You guys are up. Security is blind and taken care of."

_"Copy that."_ I stay in security and just blast anyone who comes in, making sure to keep the first two unconscious.

_"Alright, kid. We've got it cleared out. Let's go,"_ Taz says in my ear and I nod, looking around to see what could help me get back in the vent.

"Not so fast!" One of the Sheelmoits grab me and hold me still while I try to get away, the other one standing up as we turn to the door to see a Sheelmoit in some fancy clothes

"You are hereby under arrest for the killing of Sheelmoit nobles and the stealing of all valuable objects in this facility! The penalty is death!" I go pale behind my mask and they drag me out of the building, into a town.

"Let go of me!" I snarl and fight, earpiece activated still. "I'll fucking kill all of you asshats!" They deactivate my mask and I snarl, fighting more. They throw me into a cage and I spin to try to get out but they slam the door, they had taken all but my thigh knife. I snarl and grab my knife, pulling myself up to try to pick the lock once their backs are to me.

"Get the executioner!" I keep trying to pick the lock but can't and bite my lip, arms through the gaps of the cage to hold myself up. Someone kicks the cage and I fall to the bottom of it, quickly sliding my knife into my boot where they couldn't get it.

"Get her out of there! She will fight to the death!" A couple of people drag me out and throw me at the feet of this huge guy, a Krelzol. I quickly stand and grab my knife from my boot. The Krelzol had a staff that looked like a mallet and I tighten my hand around my knife handle. "Fight!" The Krelzol comes toward me and swings the giant mallet.

"Shit!" I duck down and roll out of the way, looking around a bit. "Come on, come on, come on... There's got to be something I can use here..." He swings the giant mallet at me again and I barely manage to avoid it, going into a backbend before vaulting myself back onto my feet. I slide my knife back into its holster and see a huge blaster, behind the Krelzol. "That'll work." I take a deep breath and look at the guy.

"Hey! You big stupid idiot!" He looks at me and advances on me. "Yeah! Come get me, you little bitch!" I back against a wall and he swings his mallet at me. I duck and it gets stuck in the wall. "Good job, ya big lug!" I duck under the handle and run for the blaster. "Ooh! A Chaos Phase Blaster! Rocket is gonna be so jealous!" I hold it on my shoulder and point it at the guy.

"Hey! Idiot!" He turns toward me and I shoot him in the face before he falls to the ground, dead. "Damn! That was a big boom!" I point it at the group of people coming toward me and shoot, sending them all flying in different directions. "Hell yeah!" I grab my weapons and attach them one-handed before shooting a few more groups. "This was fun! But I've gotta go! BYE!" I hold onto the Chaos Phase Blaster and bolt back toward where the _Piranha_ is landed.

I get there and there's nothing. The ship isn't cloaked, it's just gone. "Fucking Hell, dude!" I activate my mask and look around, blaster hanging at my side. "Well... Let's try this..." I point the blaster down and shoot it. The blast sends me flying in the air and I quickly activate my boots as I contact Yondu.

_"Wha'cha want, girl?"_

"Where the Hell is the ship?!" I land in a tree and deactivate my boots.

_"Yer ship jus' docked."_ I hear him go into the hangar and wait. I hear him yelling at Uttuls, Stradho, and Grugzak and find out that Taz is unconscious.

"I'll be there shortly." I end the transmission and activate my boots again, flying toward the atmosphere. "Hopefully this works..." I leave the atmosphere and use the Blaster to send me through the deep a bit more.

My boots suddenly stop working and I use the last bit of fuel to get me as close to the _Eclector_ as possible, sending out a distress signal as I float in the freezing deep. I use the Blaster one last time to get closer before it stops working and I look to see the _Cawl_ coming toward me. I get sucked into the ship by the tractor beam and collapse on the floor, the frost and ice sliding off of my body quickly.

"Yer insane!" Kraglin yells and comes to grab me, putting me on the bunk before he covers me up with ten blankets. "How..." He looks at me and I shiver slightly, deactivating my mask.

"It worked..." I smirk a bit and he hits me in the head before he goes back to the pilot's chair to pilot us back to the hangar. "It was either risk the deep or risk getting caught by the Sheelmoit again... I may have some dumb luck, but not enough to want to risk another fight..."

"Yer lucky Cap'n's pissed a' them idiots tha' left ya there!"

"Yeah, for sure..." I agree and wrap one of the warmer blankets tighter around me while he docks. He comes over and helps me up then off the ship. "Krags, I'm fine... Just a little cold... My mask helped with the oxygen..." He doesn't respond and I give up arguing with him, noticing Yondu striding over with Doc.

"Ya a'ight, girl?"

"Yes, Captain... I'm fine... Just a little cold..." Doc takes Kraglin's place and I fight back an eye roll.

"That'll be for me to decide. I'll make sure she's good as new, Captain." Doc takes me to med and I go with them, not bothering with fighting them.

They lay me on a bed and cover me up with warm blankets, hooking me up to machines to make sure I'll be OK. I let them and they do a full-body scan to check for any more injuries or frost from the deep.

"You should have more frost than you do... And more hypothermia..." They murmur to themselves and check me over some more. I let them and close my eyes, just tired now. "You rest, Rogue. I'm going to do some research on Terrans." I just nod and drift off to sleep.

\-------------

"Captain, could I speak to you and Kraglin in my office?" Doc asks over their wrist com and they don't get a reply.

Yondu and Kraglin come into their office after a few minutes and look at them. "Wha'cha want, Doc?" They pull up the images from my full-body scan and one from Dad when he was my age. "Wha' we lookin' a'?"

"Rogue's body scan compared to Quill's when he was her age. Their nervous systems look similar but Rogue has more of the irregularities compared to Quill's. We know Quill's was caused by Ego being a celestial, making him half Terran. This is too many irregularities to be a quarter celestial." They point them out on my nervous system and the other two look at them.

"Wha's tha' mean?"

"Is it possible Rogue's mother was a celestial as well?" They shake their heads and Doc looks at the images. "What do these mean, then? She should have more injuries than she does for being in the deep like that. This is more than just some dumb luck." Yondu shrugs and looks at me sleeping on a bed.

"Girl's a'ight?"

"She's fine."

"Tha's all tha' matters." He shrugs one shoulder and leaves. Doc looks at Kraglin and he just shrugs, leaving too.

"I'll figure it out..." Doc mutters and starts to try to figure it out.

\--------------

When I wake up, I sit up and felt fine so I move to get out of bed. "Not so fast!" I stop and Doc stands in front of me. "I've got to clear you." They check me over and I let them.

"Alright. You're cleared. The captain said we were landing to celebrate a mission well done and for you not dying." 

"Nice." I get out of bed and leave med, grabbing my jacket when Doc hands it to me. "Thanks, Doc!" They don't respond and I see them go into their office. "OK..." I go to controls and notice we were just landing on Contraxia.

"How're you feeling, kid?" Taz pats my shoulder and I look at him.

"Feel fine. You?"

"They got a good hit to the head in. I'm fine."

"Good." The rest of the crew goes planetside and I run to my quarters to get my warm clothes. I put them on and go planetside with Yondu and Kraglin.

"I oughta kill ya fer tha' stunt." Kraglin rests his elbow on my head and I roll my eyes, pushing it off.

"It was a stunt that worked. And I'm probably wanted by the Sheelmoit for killing nobles and stealing valuable objects. Not my fault they had shitty security."

"How didja turn it off?"

"I destroyed the whole damn thing." Yondu cackles and Kraglin scoffs, rolling his eyes with a smirk.

"Yer an idiot."

"Yup. I'll meet you guys at the bar with all the games." They head that way and I stay outside for a bit, just looking around.

"I see Udonta is still an asshole that uses kids for his dirty work." I turn and see an Ukzan looking at me. "Who'd he steal you from, kid? Or did his First Mate manage to get him pregnant and you're their freaky kid?" He snickers and I lose my temper, tackling him to the ground. "You little bitch!" He kicks me off of him and gets up before kicking me in my stomach. I grunt and roll away, getting to my feet quickly.

"Glad to see they've taught you to fight instead of running your mouth as they do," He snarls and punches me in the face. I stumble back a step and growl, attacking him.

\------------

"Captain!" Yondu looks up as Taz comes in and raises an eyebrow. "The kid is in a fight with someone from another crew, Captain. I have no clue who's winning." He goes out with Kraglin and I get thrown against a wall.

\------------

I snarl and get up easily, going back over to him. I swing at him and he catches my arm, punching me in the stomach before throwing me to the ground. He puts his boot on my chest and glares down at me. "Stay down, kid, like the slave your Captain and First Mate should've taught you to be." He spits on me and I feel a switch flip inside of me.

I grab his leg and fling him onto the ground, pinning him down before I start punching him anywhere I can while growling low in my throat. Someone grabs me and pulls me off while Yondu whistles, his arrow between me and the Ukzan. I stand next to whoever pulled me off, panting slightly, and Yondu comes over, looking pissed.

"What the Hell is this?!" Charlie-27 comes over and the Ukzan stands carefully.

"She attacked me, Captain," He says and I snarl at him.

"Then maybe you should learn to shut your fucking mouth, cunt!" The person who grabbed me, Kraglin, elbows me and I shut up, glaring at the Ukzan.

"Rogue, what the Hell are you doing attacking my crew?" Charlie growls and I flex my right hand slightly.

"If he doesn't want to get the shit beat out of him, maybe he shouldn't spew it from his mouth and shouldn't talk about shit he doesn't know jack about."

"What are you talking about?"

"He talked shit about Captain Udonta and Kraglin. I wasn't going to let him do that."

"You don't solve anything by beating the shit out of him," Charlie growls and I look him in the eye, having to crane my neck.

"You're absolutely right. I should've shot him in the mouth." I glare at the Ukzan and he looked slightly surprised. "That would've shut him up," I snarl and he takes a slight step back.

"You're fucking insane!"

"That offer of shooting you in the mouth still stands," I growl and he falls silent while I take my glove off, wiping my hand across my mouth to come back bloody.

"Yondu," Yondu looks at Charlie and just nods when Charlie raises an eyebrow, glancing at me.

"Yeah, yeah... Ah know... Krags." Kraglin grabs my arms and holds them behind my back. "Ya can't be beatin' the shit outta other crews, girl," Yondu says simply and punches me in the stomach. I grunt and he punches me again. "Cuz tha' makes me look like Ah ain't teachin' ya wha' ta do. An' Ah gotta beat the shit outta ya." He punches me as he's talking and I take it, grunting at the particularly hard ones.

When he stops, he just walks away and Kraglin lets go of my arms. I wipe my hand across my mouth before I pull my glove back on and go to the bar with the games, Kraglin following. "Ya a'ight, kid?"

"I'm fine." Talking hurts my mouth and I look at the bar then the ship. "I'm going back to the ship. Go have fun. I'm going to bed."

"A'ight, kid. Have fun." He scoffs and goes to the bar while I board the _Eclector_ , heading to my quarters. Doc holds a tube of stuff out of med and I take it as I go to bed.

"Thanks, Doc."

"No problem." I continue to my quarters and sit on my bunk, taking my gloves off. I take my coat off and shove it under the bunk with the rest of my Contraxia stuff before I flop back on it, sighing.

"Well... Tonight sucked ass..." I mutter and sigh softly, sitting up. I set the cream on the dresser and move to sit against the wall behind my bunk, listening to my music after grabbing it from my pillow. I close my eyes and relax.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wake up suddenly when people are stumbling in and open my eyes to look at Yondu and Kraglin, both very drunk. "What are you two doing in here?" I groan and rub my face slightly.

"'M sorry, girl... Ravager rules..."

"The one tha' gits pulled off 'a the other gits beat..." Kraglin finishes and I nod a bit.

"That's nice. Come on. Time for bed, you two." They both collapse on my bunk to sleep and fall asleep instantly. "I didn't- Ugh... Forget it..." I lean against the wall again and close my eyes, not in the mood to deal with this right now. "Morning me can deal with this bullshit... Fuck that..." I put my headphones back on and listen to my music, covered up with a fur blanket from my bed that I get the sneaking suspicion is from Yondu's quarters.

"Yondu's quarters..." I get out of bed and pull my jacket on, pushing my headphones around my neck. I wander around the ship a bit and end up in front of Kraglin's quarters. "That'll work..." I hack into it and go inside, locking the door before I clean his bed to sleep in it. "Hmmm... Warm..." I put my headphones back on and fall asleep listening to my music.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wake at around 0500 and slip out of the bed, going over to the door before I remember I'm in Kraglin's quarters. I tap something next to the button that will open the door and a holographic picture of the outside of the door pops up. No one was there and I go out the door, going to mess to get some food. "Ah, yes... Silence... Amazing..." I go over to get food from Cookie and he gives me food. "Cookie! How's it going, bud?"

"That... Never mind. It's going fine. Go eat your food and leave me alone."

"I can do that." I take my tray to Yondu's table and sit in my normal spot, eating while I listen to my music.

Everyone else is coming in as I finish and I set the tray on the cart. Yondu and Kraglin get in line for food and I lose myself in the crowd of Ravagers, going to the hangar to get to work.

Jay comes in and wraps his arms around my waist from behind. "Hey, shorty. Whatcha doing?"

"Working. And I'm not short. You're just freakishly tall." He chuckles and bends over to kiss my cheek. I turn my head and he pecks my lips instead.

"Sneaky." He chuckles and pulls away, moving to help me with the M-ship I was working on. "What happened to your face?"

"Apparently... Ravagers have a rule. When a crew member gets into a fight with someone from another crew, the one who gets pulled off of the other one, gets beat. And I got pulled off of an Ukzan from Charlie-27's crew. Because he talked shit about Captain and Kraglin," I explain and work on the ship with him. "Hand me that hammer thing." He hands it to me and I use it to hit a piece of the ship off.

It clatters to the floor and I nod. "Nice. Get the replacement." He grabs it and puts it where it goes while I hit it into place. "There." I go towards the _Warbird_ since we had just fixed the _Cawl_ and I had noticed something wrong with the _Warbird_ yesterday. Jay follows and helps me fix it.

Someone comes in and over to us as we're working on it. "Boy, ya finish tha' up. Girl, ya work on somethin' else," Yondu says simply and Jay takes over while I do as I'm told.

"You got it, Captain." I go over and work on some other ships while he leaves. I hear someone come over as I work on _The Siren_ and I focus on working instead of turning to see who it is.

"Girl."

"Yes, Captain?"

"Ah need ta talk ta ya."

"Can't it wait?"

"No." He grabs me by the collar of my jacket and pulls me away from the ship, glaring at me. "It can't," He growls and I nod.

"What do you need, Captain?" He just drags me with him to his quarters and I follow, gritting my teeth to keep from saying something stupid.

He throws me into his quarters and I catch myself against a chair before I fall to the floor fully, righting myself. Kraglin was leaning against the wall and I look at them. "What do you want? Since you already kicked me off of working on your ship. Krags, I replaced that part you told me about yesterday. Everything should be working correctly now." He just nods and I cross my arms over my chest.

"Wha' was ya doin' ta m'ship?" Yondu growls and I look at him, getting a little pissed.

"I saw that your right weapon had wires sticking out of it yesterday before the mission. I was fixing that and making sure that it would still work without having to fire it. Why the Hell would I screw with your ship if I didn't have a damned good reason to?"

"Like gittin' beat fer stickin' up fer yer Cap'n an' First Mate?" Kraglin suggests and I scoff.

"You two idiots are unbelievable... How many damned times do I have to explain this? I am not that fucking petty! If I have a problem with somebody, they'll fucking hear about it! I'm not going to sabotage their ship because of something as stupid as that! It's not my fault that you're both a couple of fucking dumbasses that can't seem to get that!" They're shocked into silence and I start to leave.

Kraglin grabs me and throws me onto the couch. "Still not a damned rag doll," I growl and they both glare at me. "OK, so we're doing this..." I stand and look at them, pissed all the way off now.

"Am I pissed that that Ukzan was talking shit about you two being freed slaves? One hundred percent. Am I pissed that I beat the shit out of him? Nope, he had it coming. Am I pissed I got the shit beat out of me for sticking up for the two of you? A little bit, yeah. Do I understand that you were just following the damned rules of the Ravagers? Yes, because I'm not that much of a fucking idiot! Would I change anything I did? Nope." I pop the 'p' and look at them.

"He told me to stay down like the slave you two should've taught me to be. That flipped a fucking switch and I beat the shit out of him. I'm not sorry for doing it. I would still do it if I had the chance to change what happened. And that Ukzan can fuck all the way off to all of the Hells for the shit he spewed."

"Yer outta the hangar fer two lunar cycles."

"Are you fucking kidding me?! Why?!"

"Cuz 'M the Cap'n an' Ah said ya are!" Yondu bellows and I clench my jaw and fists at my side. "Ya got a problem with tha'?"

"No, Captain," I grit out through my teeth and he glares at me.

"Yer workin' with Nudran fer three lunar cycles, now. Cuz ya think ya can talk back ta me. Git outta 'ere."

"With pleasure." I leave and go to the airlocks, pissed. No one was around and I punch the wall. A lot.

When I stop, the wall had my blood on it and I could barely move my fingers. So, I punch the wall with my left hand now and don't stop until it's the same as my right. I go to Med and Doc looks up when I come in.

"What happened to your hands?!"

"Just bandage them up." They look a little shocked at my tone and finish up with the crewmate they're with. They stand and I give Kraglin the Ravager Salute with some difficulty. "Kraglin," I mutter, bowing my head slightly, and he looks at my hands.

"Ya win?" I don't respond and offer Doc my hands to bandage them up.

"I can put them in a brace."

"Just. Bandage. Them," I growl and they do that. "Thanks." I glance at Kraglin slightly and turn to leave. "Tell Captain I'm going to go start my three lunar cycles with Nudran now. Since he sent you to Med for no reason other than to make sure I followed his orders. Assure him, they're getting followed." I leave med and head to Nudran's work quarters.

Yondu was waiting and I try to go past him. "Ya win?" I look at him and he nods towards my hands.

"I'm getting started on my three lunar cycles of work with Nudran. Don't worry, Captain, your orders are being followed. So you don't have to send Kraglin after me to make sure they are. I won't be stepping a foot in the hangar unless it's to go on missions or supply runs."

"Five lunar cycles." He leans down to be eye level with me and I make eye contact, clenching my jaw again. "Keep pushin', girl. Ah can make it an annual cycle."

"You got it, Captain," I growl and he raises an eyebrow, straightening up.

"Annual cycle with Nudran, girl. Have fun." He turns on his heel and leaves. I just go inside and sit across from Nudran.

"You're working me for an annual cycle, then?"

"Yup."

"This should be fun..." He shows me how he does his job and hands me a stack of holopads.

"What do I do with these?"

"Look through them. Find which one would have the highest reward and we come up with a plan to tackle it." I don't make any move to pick a holopad up and he raises an eyebrow. "Get to work, kid."

"I can't read them."

"What are you talking about?"

"My visor has been on the fritz... So I haven't been able to use it to find problems with the ships, to read signs, or to do my lessons on the other languages... I haven't been able to fix it or take it down to tech yet... And it's more than likely that if I leave here before you do to go to Mess, Captain's gonna add more lunar or annual cycles to this and I won't get back to doing what I like to do until I'm twenty..."

"I see... Well." He grabs a toolbox and passes it to me. "This should have what you need to fix your visor and you try to figure it out while I call Gek, the lead tech, to come to help you fix it." I take it and take my visor from behind my ear, setting it on the table as I open the toolbox. I carefully take it apart and look at it, biting my lip slightly.

"What is Nudran?" Gek asks and she comes over, looking over my shoulder. "I see..." She sits next to me and helps me fix it.

"Try it now," She says after I put it back together and I put it back, trying it. The visor pops up and I smile slightly. "There. Fixed." She pats my shoulder and leaves. I had learned that manners just lead to people thinking they can take advantage of you so I just thank Doc, Cookie, Segs, Yondu, Kraglin, Dad, and his crew. I pick up a holopad and look through it, using the visor to translate it.

When I'm finished with the holopads, I had them sorted from most reward to least and hand Nudran the one with the most. "This one. It's on Givagua. We'd have to send someone down to seduce that rich guy. He's into guys, so sending a chick crewmember wouldn't do much good. He frequents the Givaguan version of a male bot Iron Lotus, as in at least twice a week-cycle. The establishment has sentient people there too. He likes Xandarians... We got any male Xandarians on here that are into guys?"

"I'd say Jay, but he's too young."

"And into girls. He might swing both ways... Any male Xandarians that like both? Or all? Like, they don't care about what gender someone identifies as or if they don't identify as a gender?"

"How do you know about this shit?"

"Terrans have been advocating for equal rights for women, people who were assigned the wrong gender at birth, and people who identify as either both or neither. And it wasn't going well last I knew. Terra sucks. And so do a lot of the people on it." He nods slowly and looks at the holopad.

"I think we might have some people like that. What else you got for a plan?"

"We use the seducer to get information on how his house is. Once we have the information, we hit his place and rob him blind." He nods and comes up with a more detailed plan from what I gave him.

"I'll go present that to Captain. Good job, kid."

"Maybe leave out the parts on how I was involved."

"I'll just say I bounced ideas off of you and it helped me come up with the plan." I nod and he leaves while I work on studying the lessons to learn how to read and write the other languages, using a holopad I keep in my pocket.


	12. Chapter 12

I was having issues typing and writing on the holopad with my hands being the way they are and wince slightly now and then, continuing to study because I need to know how to do it.

I hear people come in and ignore it to continue studying, writing on the holopad with a lot of pain. "Girl." I turn and stand, seeing Yondu there.

"Yes, Captain?"

"Yer goin' on this mission," He then leaves and I look at Nudran, confused.

"The guy has a thing for helping kids that are hurt. You, well... You're hurt."

"I see... When am I leaving?"

"As soon as you get some clothes that aren't those."

"I got some of those. Just got to have Segs adjust them."

"Segs has some ready for you already."

"How?"

"He works fast. Go." I go to Segs' workshop and he hands me some clothes that look raggedy.

"Change into these and Captain is waiting in the hangar for you. You may use that area there." He points towards a curtained off area and I go over there, changing.

When I come out, he smiles at me and I smile back a bit. "Are your weapons still on you?"

"Yeah. I have them on underneath the clothes."

"Good." He hugs me and I hug him back, chuckling softly. "Good luck, my dear." He lets me go and kisses my hand gently. "Go, now. The captain is waiting. I will drop your clothes off in your room." I nod and leave, going to the hangar quickly.

Yondu was waiting with Kraglin in front of the _Warbird_ and I follow them on board. "So, how's this going to work?" They don't respond as we strap in and I look between them a bit. "Nudran didn't give me much to go on. Just that the guy likes to help kids that are hurt. Can I get some more information on the plan?"

"Ya make it, kid. Tha' plan is yers ta make as ya do yer thing," Kraglin says shortly and I nod a bit.

"OK..." I'd bite my nails if it wouldn't cause me more pain so I tap my foot on the floor a bit and watch out the window as Yondu pilots.

"Stop tha'," Yondu growls and I stop, flexing my fingers slightly to see if they hurt any less. They hurt a little less, which is good, and I take a slow breath as we land on Girvagua. "Ya study the language?"

"Yeah. I get the gist of the letters and I know how to get to his favorite spot. I studied that too."

"Git tha' info, kid," Kraglin says and I nod, unstrapping to get off.

"Catch you guys on the flip side." I smile at them a bit and slide down the ladder to land on the planet. I let out a huff of breath and head toward his favorite spot. "Let's do this..." I go around some trees to hide looking back and see the ship just cloak itself, not leaving. "They wouldn't leave me here like that... Stop being paranoid..." I scoff and continue to the spot.

When I get there, I wait in an alley between it and another building and take the bandages off of my hands. "This is gonna fucking hurt..." I take a deep breath and punch the wall twice with each fist. "Fuck..." I growl softly and breathe through the pain. "OK... OK... I'm fine... Whew... Gods... Whew..." I see the target and he comes down the alley so I start the acting, crying and whimpering in pain as I curl up with my back to a wall.

He stops and looks at me. "Are you alright?" He gently helps me up and sees my hands. "Oh! Those look bad! Come with me!" He escorts me through the alley and I go with him, crying and sniffling the whole time.

Eventually, we get to his house and he leads me inside after putting a code into the front door. I trip and use that to quickly send the code to Yondu along with a message to say that it was to the outside doors on my wrist com. "Are you alright?" He helps me up and I nod, sniffling pathetically. "Oh, you poor girl..." He leads me to a bedroom and has me sit on the bed. He grabs a medkit and starts to dab something that burns on my knuckles, making me hiss.

"It's alright. It's to clean them up so I can bandage them properly." He does just that and his hands move to the waistband of my pants.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm making sure you aren't hurt anywhere else."

"I'm not. And not under my pants."

"That was quite the fall you took earlier." He keeps trying to pull my pants down and I kick him in the face. "Damn!" He falls backward and I roll off of the bed quickly, looking at him. "Come here, kid!" He lunges for me and I roll out of the way, hitting him in the side when he's on the floor.

"Girl!" Yondu yells and I turn, getting knocked down by the target.

"Got you now," He hisses with a wicked smirk and I grab my knife from the inside of my pants quickly. I stab him in the shoulder and he falls off of me with a scream. "You little bitch!" He takes the knife out and swipes at me as I stand, his body between me and the door. I lean backward and grab my other one from my shoulder blades, holding it in front of me. He lunges for me as I move the knife in front of me and the knife stabs him in the chest. He falls to the floor and shows Yondu and Kraglin standing there.

"I... I didn't get the other codes..." My hands drop to my side, my knife still in his chest, and they look at me. "I was just gonna stab him in the other shoulder... But... He..." I'm suddenly falling and Kraglin rushes forward, catching me before I hit the floor.

"Ya a'ight, kid?" He rights me and I nod a bit. "Yer sure?" I nod again and he slowly lets go of me. I don't fall and Yondu looks at me. "Wha' happened?"

"He bandaged my hands up... Then tried to take my pants off..."

Yondu suddenly whistles and his arrow is going through the guy's skull and body, causing both Kraglin and I to jump. "Cap'n?" Kraglin asks carefully and Yondu snaps his head up, looking at the two of us like he might kill us. I unconsciously take a step back and his face softens.

"Sorry, girl... Ya a'ight?" I nod and he nods back. "C'mon. We gonna fin' a way in them rooms." He leads the way out of the room and I follow with Kraglin at my side after he grabs my knives, pocketing something. "Ya got yer blaster, girl?"

"No, it would've been too obvious..." He nods and we get to a door that needed a code. I look at it and bite my lip a bit, thinking. "We could try to hack it... But then the... Whatever would be here... This might work..." I take Kraglin's blaster and point it at the handle before I fire.

The door swings open and I hold the blaster out to Kraglin. He tries to take it but my hand won't open and I pry my fingers open. "Wha'cha do ta yer hand?"

"They aren't made for punching walls." He nods and Yondu goes into the now open room. "Any other crew coming to help?" He shakes his head and I nod a bit. "Great... How many rooms we got?"

"Three, with tha' 'un."

"OK. Captain takes this one, I take one, and you take the last one so we get out of here." Yondu comes out, having a bag full of loot on his back, and I look at him. "Y'know, if you were fatter, had a hat, and some white fur, you'd kinda look like Santa Claus."

"Gods, not ya too," Kraglin groans and I chuckle.

"I'm just saying. Come on. We got a job to finish, right?" He nods and Yondu and I take the second one while Kraglin takes the third one.

"How we gittin' in 'ere, girl?" I look at it and think, hands on my hips. "Well?" He was smirking and I sigh.

"Look out..." I back up to the opposite wall and he moves, raising an eyebrow. "This is gonna hurt..." I let out a short breath and run at the door, ramming my shoulder into it.

It gives and I go tumbling inside with it, groaning loudly in pain. "Oh, Gods... Ow... That hurt so much more than I thought it would..." I stand and hold my shoulder as Yondu comes in, nodding. He pats my shoulder and I groan in pain. "Ow..."

"M'bad." He chuckles and fills the bag with the stuff in the room.

_"Done, Cap'n,"_ Kraglin says over Yondu's wrist com and he nods, finishing up.

"Time ta go, girl." He leads me out of the room and I follow, shoulder hurting so badly. Kraglin meets us at the front door and looks at me.

"Wha'cha do now?!"

"I busted through a door. The metal was... Weak... Dumb luck?" I shrug my uninjured shoulder and we quickly go back to the _Warbird_.

Once we're on, Kraglin pushes me to sit on the bunk and I let him, not bothering with arguing. "Could you at least be nicer?" He glares at me and I raise my hands slightly. "Never mind." He sits in the co-pilot's seat while Yondu sits in the pilot's seat and we're leaving the planet. I stand up once we're out of the atmosphere and carefully prod at my shoulder.

"Wha'cha doin'?" Kraglin was watching me, eyebrow raised, and I continue prodding my shoulder.

"On Terra, my shoulders would get dislocated. Like, a lot. I'm trying to see if that's what's up here." I prod at it a bit more before comparing the lengths to each other and nod a bit. "Awesome. Dislocated shoulder. Woo-hoo!" I say sarcastically and make my shoulders relax. "I found a couple of ways to get it back into place... First one's easy enough..." I reach my left arm behind my head and slowly move it to my right shoulder, hoping that would work.

"Tha' work, girl?"

"Nope." I put my arm down and blow a strand of hair out of my face. "Alrighty... Second way... That usually works..." I look around a bit and line my shoulder up to the bunk. "Fun..." I ram my shoulder against the bunk and feel it pop back into place, leaning against the bunk for a moment.

"Ya a'ight, kid?" I just nod and breathe slowly to deal with the pain as I sit back down on the bunk. "Yer sure?"

"Yeah..." We dock in the hangar and I go to get changed quickly.

When I'm changed, my stomach growls loudly and I go to Mess since it was around 1830. I go over to the line and Cookie looks at me. "Cookie!"

"Shut up." He gives me food and waves a tentacle at me. "Get away from me."

"You got it." I shrug one shoulder and head toward the mechanic's team's table to eat with them.

"You don't work in the hangar for an annual cycle, you don't sit here for an annual cycle," Cron says harshly and I look at him as he takes the last empty spot wide enough for me. "Mechanic's team rules for our table. Go sit somewhere else, kid." He starts to eat and I roll my eyes.

"Yeah, OK, Mean Girls." I go sit with Yondu at his table and Kraglin looks at me, surprised.

"Ya ain't sat 'ere fer a while."

"Glad to see you do pay attention." I roll my eyes, smirking a bit, and have to force my fingers to close around my eating utensil.

"Wha' was tha' 'bout?"

"Apparently... The mechanic's team has a rule about who gets to sit at 'their table'," I do slight finger quotes and roll my eyes. "Since I'm not working in the hangar for an annual cycle, I don't sit there for an annual cycle. So, you guys get to see my gorgeous face for the entirety of an annual cycle." I smirk and eat my food while they roll their eyes.

"Yer an idiot."

"You got that right, Krags. Gods, if I punch another wall, I don't think that I'll be able to use my hands again," I scoff, flexing my left-hand fingers, and keep eating.

"Then you should stop punching walls." I look up to see Dad standing there and he was smirking. "Miss me?"

"Nope," I pop the 'p' and he rolls his eyes, sitting next to Kraglin. "It was fairly peaceful without you here."

"Not sure how you classify getting put in a fight to the death, getting the shit beat out of you by Yondu, and having a creep feel you up as peaceful, but OK," He scoffs and tries to steal some of my food.

I stab him with the spoon like utensil and he takes his hand back, kinda glaring at me. "My food. No touch." He rolls his eyes and I continue eating, finishing.

"You're an idiot."

"Yup. Learned from you." I smirk at him and deal with my tray, having to pry my fingers open to drop my spoon thing. I start to leave Mess and Dad stops me. "Yes?"

"Have a seat so we can talk."

"OK..." I roll my eyes and sit down, looking at him. "What?" He looks uncomfortable and I cross my legs, resting my elbow on the table.

"Well... 'Mora thought it would be a good idea to..." He looks over my head and smiles. "Thank Gods..." He mutters under his breath and Gamora sits across from me with some food. I turn and look at her.

"Hello, Rogue." She smiles at me and I lift my fingers in greeting, staring at her. "Yes, Rogue?"

"What's your idiot of a man wanting to tell me but is too awkward to spit out?" She looks at Dad and he shrugs a bit.

"It feels weird to talk to her about it..." She rolls her eyes and looks at me.

"I wanted your Father to ask you to be the flower girl for the wedding. Which we have planned for tomorrow."

"OK, I know I'm short, but not a three-year-old level of short. I'm not doing that. I can't even bend my fingers around something without having to pry them back open. Meaning, I can't do that. Now... I'm leaving. Thank you for asking me to do that, but..." I flex my fingers slightly and it takes a moment to uncurl them. "That ain't gonna make it easy to do anything. Bye." I stand and leave Mess, going back to Nudran's workspace because it was quiet.

I sit in the chair from earlier and bend my fingers around my pen to practice writing the other languages, gritting my teeth against the pain. Someone walks in and I continue to work on it. "Rogue."

"Yeah, Gamora?" She sits across from me and I glance at her before focusing on my work again.

"I would like for you to be a part of the wedding. So would Peter. He says that you look like a mix of your mother and his mother. It would mean the world to him if you would be there." I look at her and she was watching me intently.

"I wasn't kidding when I said that earlier... And... I don't want to be the flower girl... Anything else you'd want me to do? I can steal some booze from Captain's quarters for a party?" I suggest and she kinda glares at me. "Kidding." I smile and she rolls her eyes.

"Alright. Nebula is guiding me down the aisle at Peter's insistence. You may say something after Stakar asks..."

"Who gives you away to marry Dad?" She nods and I nod back. "I can do that." I smile and she smiles back, leaving. "Ooh... This is gonna be fun..." I continue working on the languages until I can barely keep my eyes open and go to my quarters to collapse on my bunk, falling asleep quickly.

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When 0500 rolls around, I roll out of bed and stretch before going to Mess, yawning as I walk. "Cookie..." I yawn again and he just hands me food with a drink to help me wake up. "Thanks..." I go to Yondu's table and sit, not noticing that Yondu and Kraglin were the people sitting there. "Morning..." I drink the thing Cookie gave me and set the cup down after a small drink, more awake now.

"What the fuck did you give me, Cookie?!" I turn to look at him and he was cackling.

"Enjoy!" He cackles and turns to do other stuff while I turn back around.

"Oh, hey." I look at Yondu and Kraglin and they were snickering softly. "What's so funny?" Kraglin just points at me while he drinks his drink and I raise an eyebrow at him. "Also, how long have you two been here?"

"A while."

"Oh... Huh..." I finish my drink and start to eat the food with my fingers.

"Dude, you have a spork right there," Dad scoffs as he sits across from me and I roll my eyes slightly.

"Dude, I have fingers that don't want to work unless I force them to move. I'm not using a damned spork to eat."

"Wouldn't have that problem if you didn't punch walls. Why did you, anyway?"

"Figured punching one of these two would be a terrible idea and I was pissed. Trying to bend the wall to my will seemed like a good way to deal with it."

"You're an idiot."

"Learned from you. Why are you up so early, anyway? You're usually not in here until 0700. And it's only going toward 0530. Gamora kick you off of the _Milano_?" He doesn't respond and I smirk. "Guess she did." I finish my food and reach over to wipe my fingers on Dad's arm.

"Seriously?!" I smirk and deal with the tray, heading to leave. "Have a seat. You don't have anything to do until Nudran drags his ass out of his bunk."

"True." I sit back down and carefully unwrap my hands, having to use my teeth because my fingers prove useless in doing that.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm tired of having my hands wrapped up like this. If I'm still bleeding, that's an easy fix," I explain around tearing the wraps off of my right hand with my teeth and just drop the wraps on the table for now. Dad picks them up and throws them away. I force my fingers into forming a fist before straightening them out again and repeating it with my other hand.

"Now what are you doing?"

"Trying to force my hands to work. Obviously." I roll my eyes and clench my left hand into a fist before trying to straighten it out again, which takes a moment. I repeat it with my right hand and it straightens out immediately. "See? Mind over matter works. For once in my life..." I scoff softly and notice my knuckles were bleeding again. "Well damn." I pull the scarf like thing Yondu had given me to have around my neck over my head and wipe the blood away with it.

"You could let Doc fix them up. Instead of demanding they just wrap them up like you did yesterday," Dad says in an unamused tone and I raise an eyebrow at him as I continue to deal with my bleeding knuckles.

"I'm getting the feeling that's you attempting to scold me. Am I right?" He nods and I nod slightly. "I see... Well... I'll apologize next time I see them. Happy?" He nods and I leave my knuckles alone for a moment.

They don't bleed and I look at the neck thing, noticing that it was red originally. "Meh." I put it back on and pull my hair out so it wasn't pinned against my neck. Dad looked like he wanted to be disgusted and I look at him. "What? It's already red so it hides the bloodstains. It's fine." He rolls his eyes and I leave my hair down.

"OK, subject change... Krags."

"Wha'?" He looks at him, taking his time eating, and takes a bite.

"I want you to be my best man."

"Dude. You're giving him a shitty amount of time to plan a bachelor party. Y'know that, right?"

"The wedding's late in the afternoon, after sunset. If he agrees, it'll be easy to plan one and Mantis already has a bachelorette party planned for Gamora. So, shut up, Rogue."

"At least I don't take two years to do something." He opens his mouth to respond before closing it again and I smirk slightly.

"How are you going to be part of it, then?"

"Gamora said I could say something after Stakar asks who gives her to be married to you."

"Don't say anything stupid."

"I'm offended that you think I'd say something stupid while also amazed that you know me so well."

"What were you going to say?"

"Something about since Nebula was giving Gamora away to marry you, I was begging her to take you." I shrug and he rolls his eyes.

"You're an idiot. Love you too, kid."

"I'm learning to be an idiot from you, dumbass. And yeah, whatever." I roll my eyes and he reaches over to mess my hair up. "Oh, you asshole." He snickers and I smooth my hair down slightly. "I fucking hate you." He laughs and I glare at him, having difficulty with fixing my hair because my fingers weren't cooperating.

"Want some help?"

"No. Fuck you, Quill." Jay had come in at some point and was about to come over to talk to me but Cron stops him.

"Don't be stupid. Captain would kill you on sight if you went up there. Sit down, kid," He says simply as he makes him sit and sits next to him. "Hurry up and eat because we have to work more to be able to keep everything running the way it should since that kid got kicked out of the hangar for an annual cycle."

I hear him talking shit and take my knife out, spinning it on the table slightly. "People talking shit is not a good enough reason for killing them. And your aim with throwing those knives is shitty," Dad says simply and I look at him slightly. "It's obvious you want to throw it at him."

"I'm allowed to have my knife out without planning to injure some dumbass that can't seem to keep up with a kid in a job they've been doing for more than two years." I spin my knife slightly in my hand and hold it out to Dad, handle first. "If you think you can throw it better than I can, have at it."

"I'm good. Put it up." I shrug and put it back in its holster between my shoulders, noticing Cron glaring at me.

"What? Got some more shit to spew?" He doesn't respond and just eats, muttering something where I can't hear him. "Now can I throw my knife at him? That type of shit annoys the Hell out of me."

Jay suddenly hits Cron in the face with his empty tray and we all look at him, silent. "What the fuck, kid?" He snarls as he stands and I'm moving before I realize what I'm doing. Cron moves to swing at Jay and I kick him in the back of his knee, making him fall to the floor. "What the fuck are you doing getting in the middle of this?" He growls at me and I look at him as he stands.

"If you can't manage to handle the hangar down one kid, imagine if you were down two. I was doing you a favor. Don't make me have to do you another favor or it won't be as nice as this one. Get it, got it? Good. Bye." I look at Cron before going toward the door of mess since the rest of the crew was filing into line, and Dad was standing, opening his mouth to yell something.

"Rogue!" Jay yells and I turn before I quickly duck as Cron swipes at me with a knife, the mess silent.

"Got something else to say, kid?" Cron swipes at me with the knife again and I dodge it. He lunges for me and I spin out of the way, right foot getting flung behind my left one so that I'm facing him with my shoulder toward him. "What? Didn't learn to fight back, just to dodge?" He smirks coldly at me and swipes at me. I grab his wrist, twisting it hard, and pin his hand to the small of his back, taking the knife away from him.

"Oh, I did learn to fight. I was just trying not to damage your pride." I set the knife on the table and shove him away from me, making him stumble slightly. "I also learned to not be a coward and try to stab someone in the back." He rights himself and turns to glare at me. "So, to put it simply, fuck you, Cron." He swings at me and I lean backward to avoid it. "Really?" I raise an eyebrow at him and he swings at me again. "Alright."

I avoid the swing and grab my thigh knife as he swings at me again. I catch his arm and just press the knife against his wrist, looking at him as he freezes. "You done being a jackass or do you need to be down a hand?" I growl and he doesn't respond. I just let him go and leave mess, tired of being in there now because it feels like I'm suffocating with all of the eyes on me.

Mantis sees me and smiles brightly. "Rogue!" She runs over and hugs me. I hug her back awkwardly and pat her back gently before she lets me go. "Are you coming with me, Gamora, Nebula, and Aleta for Gamora's party?" I look past her and see everyone she mentioned waiting just inside the hangar by a ship I haven't seen yet. "I am sure that Gamora would love it and you can help us find fun things to do!"

"I've gotta get to work..." I start to walk backward and someone stops me. I look up and see Nudran. "Right, Nudran? We've got to get to work..." He looks at me and smirks. _Damnit..._

"Go on ahead with them if they want you to, kid. I'll be able to handle it today. It'll be slow cuz we just got off of a mission. Go on!" He pushes me toward Mantis and she squeals before she drags me into the hangar while I kinda glare at Nudran. He snickers and goes to work.

"Gamora! Rogue wishes to come with us and Nudran said that she may!" Mantis hollers and they all look at me.

"I can stay here. You don't have to take me with you guys. I've seriously got stuff to do," I kinda plead with them and Aleta smirks, looking at Gamora.

"I'm sure that we have room for one more. Right, Gamora?"

"I can stay here. Seriously." Gamora looks at me then Mantis and smiles a bit.

"Come on, Rogue. It will be fun."

"Yay!" Mantis claps and smiles brightly at me. "This will be very enjoyable!"

"Yay!" I give her a smile that's more of a grimace and she drags me onto the ship behind her, not touching any bare skin. She sits in one of the many chairs and I sit in the one next to her before we both strap in while the others do the same.

"This will be very much fun, Rogue!" She smiles a bright smile and I smile back a bit, relaxing slightly as we leave the hangar.

"Where are we going?"

"That's a surprise," Aleta smirks at me and I nod a bit, not sure how else to respond. She and Nebula pilot and I glance over at Gamora slightly to see her waiting patiently. I settle back into the chair and wait to get to wherever we're going.

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When we land, Aleta makes us all leave our weapons on board and I stand awkwardly to the side. "You too, kid. Blaster, knives. Hand them over." I unhook my blaster and knife holster from my thigh and waist before dropping them in the box she was holding out. "Your other knife too."

"Gods..." I take my jacket most of the way off and unhook my shoulder knife holster, dropping it in the box too before putting my jacket back on fully. She raises an eyebrow at me and I sigh before I take out two blades from my sleeves, putting them in the box too. She waits and stares at me expectantly. "What?"

"I know Yondu and Kraglin have you packing more heat than just this. Fork it over." I huff out a breath and lift my foot off of the floor, pulling two twin blades from my boot before doing the same with my other boot. I then pull out two disks from the back of my waistband and put them in the box too. "Do I have to pat you down myself?"

"Jesus fucking Christ," I mutter under my breath and take my jacket off, doing a small spin while showing my arms. "That's everything I have that can kill somebody. Well..." I pull some stuff out of my pockets and carefully put them in the box. "I forgot about those. And these..." I take out two more disks from my back pockets and put them in the box. "Now that's everything." Mantis looked very surprised at the number of weapons I had and I shrug slightly as I pull my jacket back on while Aleta puts the box on the bunk.

"Alright. Let's go, girls." Aleta leads the way off of the ship and I debate about swiping a small blade. Gamora leads me off of the ship before I can decide and I just follow. I look around a bit and was shocked but hide it well.

"Huh. Cool." I follow them inside and we get food first because it was a long flight. "So... What is this place?"

"An amusement park. Sort of," Aleta explains and hands me some food that looks like funnel cake.

"Cool." We sit at a table and I notice a flash of something that looks familiar. "Hm..." I go over to the railing and snort. "Hey! Who let you, idiots, in here?!" The others come over to look and smile. Yondu, Kraglin, Stakar, Martinex, Dad, Rocket, Drax, and Jay were below the railing and I smirk mischievously. "Hey, Jay!"

"Hey, Rogue!"

"That's a nice shirt! Can I talk you out of it later?" He blushes a bright blue and smirks up at me a bit.

"You trying to get us killed?" I shrug and he rolls his eyes. "All you need to do to talk me out of it is make a promise to wear it to my quarters one night!" He dodges hits from all of them, but Rocket and Drax, with ease and I laugh with those two.

"Hey! Don't beat him up too bad!" Dad catches Jay in a headlock and looks up at me. "What? Making you have a conniption makes my day!" Mantis was laughing and Dad narrows his eyes at me before letting him go, hitting him upside the head.

"Don't get in any trouble!" He points at me and I manage to look offended.

"I would never! Now go away!" He rolls his eyes but the guys move on and I go to get the food.

"That was very funny!" Mantis giggles and I smile, nodding my agreement as I eat. "Why were they so upset at what Jay said?"

"It implied that Rogue would sleep in the same room as Jay and would be seducing him by wearing his shirt," Gamora explains and I just shrug as I eat. "Have you figured out what you're going to say, Rogue?"

"Um, I'm gonna find another way to be part of the celebration, OK?" She nods and we all eat.


	13. Chapter 13

I start to get a bad feeling and finish my drink. "Hey, where's a bathroom?" Aleta points to one and I nod, going through the crowd. I tap on my wrist com and pull up a map with some dots and a diamond. "Alright... I'm the diamond... Those dots are the ladies... These must be Dad and them..." I notice one veering away from the others and carefully go toward the dot, having a bad feeling about what was happening with that dot.

I get to the spot where the dot was and see Kraglin weaving through the crowd. I follow closely and he turns a corner, which is where I stop. "Krags?" I call softly and veer widely around the corner so that I don't get attacked. He puts his knife up and glares at me.

"Wha' ya doin' 'ere, kid?"

"I had a bad feeling. I've learned to listen to them, OK?" He narrows his eyes at me and suddenly grabs my hand, pricking my finger with his knife. "Ow! What the Hell, dude?" I hiss and put my finger in my mouth to stop the bleeding.

"Ah jus' had ta make sure..." I tap a few things on my wrist com and see my diamond right by a dot. "Wha's tha'?"

"Nothing." I'm about to swipe it away when there are screams and the other dots are moving quickly. "Shit... The others are in trouble..."

"Ya got any weapons?" I shake my head and he looks pissed. "Why?" He growls and I kinda glare at him.

"Aleta made me leave them on the M-ship! Shit! They don't have any weapons either, Krags!" I look at him and he rubs his face. "Give me your blaster!" He gives it to me and I attach it to my side, using my jacket to cover it. I look at my wrist com and see the dots had gathered together in one spot, still moving quickly. "Come on!" I grab his wrist and pull him after me to go to where they are. He yanks his arm out of my hold but follows and I run, leaning forward slightly to stay upright in the crowd going the other way.

I see a flash of blue and compare it to my wrist com, continuing to run. "Kid! Cap'n's 'ere!"

"No, he ain't! C'mon!" I drag him still and we see them piling some tables up to make a barricade. I compare it to my wrist com and nod, running that way.

"Hey, guys! What'd I miss?" I slide behind the tables and smirk at them.

"Where the Hell did you go?" Dad growls and I roll my eyes.

"I found Kraglin and then all Hell broke loose. Skrulls?" He nods and I nod back, sending them the system I have on my wrist com. "It has our positions in case we get separated, you'll be a diamond and everyone else will be a dot."

"Why do you have that?"

"Because I'm a paranoid kid. And it's a good thing I am. I had Rocket and Groot help me sneak trackers in your boots a bit ago. Good move, huh?" I give Rocket a fist bump and take off the blaster from my belt loop, giving it back to Kraglin as Rocket hands me one with sights. "That's more like it," I smirk and look around a bit.

I spot a stand with a sign that would give me cover and nod slightly. "Perfect. What do the Skrulls got for weapons?"

"Blasters and whips. Why?" Dad asks and I adjust the sights a bit, glancing at him.

"It's time to get the high ground, that's why. Don't let me get shot." I bolt for the stand and go to the back of it, activating my boots to land on the top. Blaster fire goes flying above me and I lay flat on the top, sliding behind the sign. I point the barrel of the blaster through a space between the letters of the sign and aim for a Skrull that was sneaking on the group, firing.

They scream and fall to the ground, crawling the rest of the way. One of them deal with it and I work on knocking down the Skrulls that were surrounding the group.

My blaster suddenly stops and I curse, hitting it slightly. "Come on, you piece of shit!" I hiss and hit it again, causing it to go off. "Seriously?" I growl and blaster fire knocks the blaster out of my hands. "Well, shit..." I hear someone behind me and I'm getting thrown.

"Fuck!" I activate my boots and manage to not get hurt too bad as I slide to a stop past the table barricade that the group was behind. "Not cool, asshat!" I yell at him and squeak as I dodge a whip. "Hey! Watch where you swing that thing! I ain't into that shit, freak! Rocket!" He throws me another blaster and I catch it easily, noticing something. I press a button on each side of the blaster and it splits into two separate blasters. "Nice..." I blast the Skrull in front of me once with each of them and hear a blaster go off, hitting something behind me.

"Pay attention, girl!" Yondu yells and whistles sharply to send his arrow through another Skrull's skull.

"I am!" I yell back and blast one of them. It doesn't do anything and they throw me hard into the sign on the stand. I hit it with a grunt and fall to the ground with another grunt, dropping the blasters as blood comes to my mouth from the force of the hits to the hard surfaces. I get up after a moment with a bit of difficulty and brace my hand against the stand, grabbing the blaster closest to me.

A Skrull lunges at me with their mouth wide open and I jam the blaster into their mouth, blasting their head clean off as I say, "Eat this." I pick up the other blaster and wipe a hand across my mouth, blood dripping down the corner of it. Dad glances at me and I just blast a Skrull that's behind him. "Pay attention to not getting killed!" I bark and he looks surprised but does as I say, all of us dealing with the Skrulls.

After a bit, there's only one Skrull left standing and Kraglin goes over at Yondu's insistence. I start to follow, bad feeling still present, and Yondu stops me. "Tha's fer Krags." I nod and watch Kraglin blast the Skrull out of the realm of the living.

"Why in the Hell did you put trackers in our boots?" Dad looks at me as I sink to the ground against the stand and I shrug.

"If I had put them in your wrist coms, if they got broke the tracker would too. The boots seemed like the next best option after just injecting it into your body." I don't add that there's one in Yondu's arrow and Rocket doesn't either as Kraglin comes back.

"Why didja come ta find me?" He narrows his eyes at me and I raise an eyebrow at him.

"I told you, already. Bad feeling." He comes over and hauls me to my feet, pinning me against the wall with my feet off the ground so I'm eye-level with him.

"Ya walk away from the ladies an' ya jus' happen ta have tha' system ta track us? Ya tell them Skrulls where they was 'fore ya found me?" I slip out of my jacket and fall to my feet, glaring at him as I shove him away from me. "Well? Didja ya?"

"No, you dumbass. I hate the Skrull as much as you do. They killed my sister too, Krags..." I hiss and he tenses.

He suddenly hits me to the ground and I catch myself, jaw hurting like Hell now. "Don'cha dare talk 'bout 'er 'gain, kid," He snarls softly enough only I can hear him and I stand, snatching my jacket from his hands.

"Then don't fucking forget about what they took from both of us." He swings at me again and I use my jacket to catch his arm, twisting it so his arm ends up behind his back. "And learn to fucking trust me, damn you," I hiss and unwrap my jacket from his arm, backing away as I pull it on. "I didn't tip them off on anything about anybody. I wouldn't do that," I say simply and Kraglin glares at me, having turned to face me.

"Well... That was enough excitement for me for one day..." Rocket says awkwardly and I hand him back his blasters.

"That first one got blasted out of my hands so I have no clue where it went."

"Eh, who cares? It's useless once you use up all of the charge power." He shrugs and I nod. "How'd you like the sights on it?" He walks toward the exit and I walk next to him, ignoring the others to talk to Rocket who made decent conversation most of the time.

"They were good. A little off, but that might've been because of how fast I tried to adjust them." He nods and pulls out another blaster that had sights. "Where do you hide all of these damned blasters?"

"I'll show you one day," He smirks and hands me the blaster. I take it and adjust the sights carefully, not rushing through it this time since I didn't have to rush due to a Skrull attack. "Good. Now when you shoot, you'll be dead on."

"Literally," I snort and he throws his head back in laughter while we get to the ships, the others close behind.

"You did an OK job today." He pats my wrist and waves his hand when I try to give him the blaster back. "It's yours, kid. Those sights are Hell to adjust."

"Dope. Thanks, dude." I awkwardly pat his head and he tenses for a moment, shoving my hand off after another moment.

"Yeah, yeah." Aleta gets off of the M-ship we used to get here and gives me the box that had mainly my weapons.

"Here. You're riding with the guys."

"Wait, what?"

"You heard me." She boards the ship with Jay and shuts the door again before I can get on.

"What the Hell, Aleta?" Rocket was snickering and I shove at his head slightly. "Shut up, you." I attach my weapons after handing him my new blaster and he raises an eyebrow at me.

"Where the Hell do you hide all of those weapons?"

"These amazing things called pockets," I smirk and put the smaller stuff in my pockets, making sure everything was where it went.

"Do I even want to know why you have her carrying so many weapons, Yondu?"

"Tha' girl is tiny, Stakar. Ya see tha', don'cha?"

"Hey! I'm not tiny!" I argue and Yondu raises an eyebrow at me. "You guys are freakishly tall! That ain't my fault."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Get on the ship." Dad guides me on board with his hands on my shoulders and lets them go when I bite at him. The others get on and Kraglin and I are forced to stay near each other despite wanting to kill each other.

"No killing each other on my ship!" Dad yells over his shoulder as he suddenly shuts a door and I stand, going over to it.

"What the Hell, dude? Open the damn door!"

_"Not until you two get along again, even if you have to stay in there after we dock in the hangar,"_ Dad says over a speaker and I bang my hand on a porthole. _"Hey! Easy on the ship!"_ I growl at him and he turns to go pilot the ship.

"She's gonna kill you when she gets out of there, Quill," Rocket warns and he shrugs one shoulder.

"Nah. She'll try, sure. But she won't kill me, kill me. Hopefully..." He pilots off of the planet and I sit on a crate in the room, Kraglin on the other side of it. We sit in silence and glare at each other.

"Well?"

"Well what, Obfonteri?"

"Ya gonna say sorry?"

"For what?"

"Ya wan' me ta make ya a list?"

"Yeah, make me a list of why I should apologize to you."

"Ya followed me, ya ordered me ta give ya m'blaster, ya dragged me all ova tha' damn place, ya put a tracker on me an' Cap'n without us knowin' 'bout 'em, ya ain't had yer weapons on ya like yer 'sposed ta when ya ain't with me or Cap'n, an' ya talked 'bout m'sister!" The others could hear us because we weren't being quiet.

"This oughta be good," Yondu chuckles and leans back in the co-pilot chair, listening.

"Oh? Really? Really? Well, how about you apologize to me?"

"Wha' fer?"

"I'll give _you_ a list! You accused me of selling everyone out to the Skrulls, you hit me in the face, you made me bleed out of nowhere to check my blood, you keep forgetting that _Aleta Ogord_ made me leave all of my weapons on board that ship, and you seem to be stupid enough to not realize that if I had sold you guys out to the Skrulls, I wouldn't waste my time and energy to fight against them with you!"

_"She's got a point there, Krags!"_ Dad says over the speaker and I stand, slamming my hand on the porthole as we both yell

"Shut up, Quill!" Kraglin comes over and pins me against the door.

"Ya don' talk 'bout m'sister, kid," He growls right in my face and I just punch him in his face, making him let me go.

"At least my breath doesn't smell like shit!" We get into a fistfight and Yondu pulls up the feeds from the camera in there, since we're just floating in the deep to give me and Kraglin time to work out our issues.

"Tha' part 'a yer plan?" Dad shrugs and they watch the fistfight, seeing me land a few good ones. "Damn, girl. Guess ya do lissen when Ah talk ta ya..."

Kraglin knocks me to the floor and punches me a few times in the stomach since I was guarding my face. I wrap my arms around his side and roll, flinging him off of me. We both roll to our feet, ending in a crouch, and I watch Kraglin closely. He launches at me and I roll out of the way. "You use that trick in training, dumbass!"

"Kid, ya keep callin' me tha' shit an' 'm gonna hafta hurt ya fer real!"

"HA! As if!" He knocks me to the floor again and pins my hands under his knees, smirking down at me.

"Yer cocky, kid. Makes ya sloppy."

"And you have a cock. Gives me a good weak spot." I knee him in the crotch, very flexible, and he groans, falling off of me. I roll away and watch him, wiping a hand across my mouth.

"Gittin' tired, kid?" He asks after a minute and I narrow my eyes at him.

"I can do this all day." I knock him to the floor this time and punch him in the face twice before he lands a punch to my jaw that sends me careening off of him with a grunt. He kicks me in the stomach and sits on a crate, watching me.

"Ya relent?" He asks as I push myself into a sitting position against the wall, panting, and I glare at him. "If ya do, ya jus' gotta say tha' one word."

"Asshole? Cunt? Dick? Fuck you?"

_"That last one was two words, Rogue,"_ Martinex supplies helpfully and I can't decide who I'm more pissed at right now.

"Shut up, T'Naga!" Kraglin yells and I rest my head against the wall, slowly getting my diaphragm to cooperate again. "Ya relent?" He asks again, smirking, and I kick a crate toward him. He stops it with his foot and looks at me, eyebrow raised. "Well?" I clench my jaw slightly and raise my hands when he starts to stand, choking down my pride.

"Yes, I relent. Happy?"

"An'?"

"No."

"C'mon, say it."

"No. Cuz I ain't."

"Ah can make ya."

"No, you can't. You're the one that owes me a damned apology, Obfonteri! I followed you because I had a bad feeling as to why you left the other idiots in there! And you fucking accused me of working with the Skrull! So fuck you!"

"Ya ain't got no right ta put trackers on nobody, kid!"

"Like Hell I don't!"

"Ya ain't!"

"Then you don't have a right to put trackers on me!"

"Tha' ain't the same!"

"How? How is it not the same?"

"'M yer First Mate! Yer jus' a damned mechanic an' m'kid brother's giant pain in m'ass! Ah ain't even wan'cha on the damn ship cuz yer a giant pain in m'ass! Yer dramatic, moody, emotional, an' ya cry fer no damned reason! So yer Momma died! Git ova it! All 'a our Mommas died! So yer shitty family died! Be fuckin' happy! Leas' they ain't sell ya ta the damned Skrull with yer sister! So yer sister got killed by the Skrull! M'sister did too! Git ova it!" He yells at me and I stand, going over to him. "Wha'cha want now?" He growls and I look at him, debating about it for a moment before I just hug him.

"Git off 'a me!" He tries to shove me off and I just hold him tighter.

"No."

"Kid! Git off 'a me! Now!"

"No." He growls loudly but stops trying to get me to let go of him and pats my head gently.

"Fine..." He mutters under his breath and lets me hug him, awkwardly resting an arm on my head.

"That's not... Never mind..." I mutter and let him go after a moment. "I'm..." I cross my arms over my chest and slowly let out a breath. "I'm sorry for all of the stuff you listed off..." He just wraps an arm around my head in a headlock sort of hug and pulls me into his side using it.

"'M sorry too, kid. Ah can git..." He drifts off and I help him find the word.

"Stupid? Idiotic? Stubborn as all of the Hells? Annoying? Rude? Dick like? As stupid as Dad?"

"'Ey!" He hits me upside the head at the last one and I duck under his arm after it.

"Hey, if the boot fits."

"Wha'?"

"Right. Um... Never mind. You were being as stupid as Dad is." He kinda glares at me and I smirk, shrugging one shoulder. "Y'know, it'd be cool if you could pull your damned punches for once. I like being able to eat solid food." 

"Ah pull punches when ya can hurt me with yers." He smirks at me and I shove his chest.

"Dick."

"Shorty."

"Screw you!" I scoff, smiling a bit, and he pats my shoulder, hard, before pushing me to sit on a crate. "Why am I sitting?"

"Cuz 'm yer First Mate an' Ah wan'cha ta. An' yer Daddy ain't gonna open tha' door 'till we dock." He grabs a medkit and drags a crate over to sit on before he works on fixing up my face.

"And cuz you feel bad for screwing up my pretty face," I smirk at him and he rolls his eyes.

"Shuddup so Ah can fix yer ugly mug." I scoff and stop talking so he can finish fixing my face.

"You should've been in Med instead of the hangar," I chuckle when he's done, placing bandages on any open cuts, and he flicks me in the forehead. "Hey, I'm just saying, you're not bad at it. Fork it over." He hands me the medkit and I adjust how I'm sitting to be able to clean his face up, having gotten a few hits in that made him bleed.

He was smirking and I flick him in the forehead. "Wha'cha do tha' fer?" I raise an eyebrow at him as I wipe away the blood and he chuckles. "Yer short, kid."

"Yeah, I know. Shut up. You don't have to remind me." I place some bandages on his open cuts and he lets me, watching my face. "What?"

"Ain't say nothin'."

"You're staring at me. So you don't have to say anything. It's creepy."

"Yeah, a'ight." He shoves at my head slightly and I just sit on the crate, crossing my legs while I look at him. "Wha?"

"Just trying to figure out how someone with that ugly of a mug can have all of the females on the crew going googly-eyed when he walks into a room. Same with Yondu."

_"'Ey! Ah can 'ear ya!"_

"I know!" I smirk and Kraglin rolls his eyes, blushing blue. "And it's fair of me to be curious about it. Besides, learning how you guys do it might help me make some guys go that way for me."

The door suddenly opens and Dad's standing there. "Like Hell that's gonna happen!" I go over to Dad and shove him into the room while Kraglin leaves it.

"Have fun in there," I smirk and lock the door on him, nodding slightly.

"Let me out, Rogue!" I pretend to think and look at Kraglin.

"What do you think? Should we let him out?" He looks at Dad and smirks, shaking his head.

"Naw. Leave 'im in 'ere fer a bit."

"Couldn't agree more," I smirk at Dad and he glares at the two of us. "How close are we to the ship, anyway?" I turn and head toward the chairs in the front where Rocket was sitting in the pilot's chair.

"We'll be docking in a few minutes," He says and I nod, leaning against the chair slightly.

"That fight was very entertaining!" Drax laughs and I roll my eyes. "Especially when one of you would knock the other down!" He roars with laughter and I put my hair up in a ponytail with a hair tie that I always keep around my wrist, looking at Kraglin. He was just as done with Drax and Drax sits down on the bunk, quieting down after a moment.

"Are you always this annoying?" Drax looks taken aback and Rocket laughs, adding to a headache I was getting. "Hey, Rocket..."

"What?"

"Shut up." He glares at me and I pat his head simply. "Thanks." I sit in an empty chair by them and rest my head against the wall, closing my eyes.

"Wha's yer issue?"

"She does not get enough sleep because she hides in the hangar to kiss Jay," Drax says simply and I snap my head to look at him, glaring. "What?"

"Wha'cha been doin' in the hangar?" Yondu growls and I look at him, seeing him looking at me, pissed.

"Hey! Nuh-uh! When I'm in the hangar, I do my job! I don't make out with Jay!"

"Yes, you do. I have seen you."

"Drax! Stop talking! And even if I do, that's fucking creepy of you to watch! What the Hell, dude?" They all look at him weird and he looks at me.

"I have not watched. I have seen you kissing him and then I have left. Numerous times. In the room where they keep the spare parts." They all look at me and I close my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"I go in there to talk to him about Terra," I say after opening my eyes and cross my arms over my chest. "And he listens because he's interested in it."

_"I don't know if this will help, but I can confirm that's all that we do,"_ Jay says over a transmission and I motion toward it then do a double-take. 

"Wait, when the fuck did you connect a transmission to the other ship?"

"While you were calling Drax a creep."

"Oh. OK."

_"Where is Peter?"_ Gamora asks and I smirk. _"Rogue, what did you do?"_

"He's not dead. He's in that room back there."

_"Why?"_

"Payback is a bitch."

_"What is that supposed to mean?"_

"He locked me and Kraglin in there so now he's locked in there until we dock in the hangar. He'll be fine! He might even gain some brain cells, but that's not very likely... There's still a chance, though," I shrug one shoulder and she shakes her head, ending the transmission.

A new one comes in and Rocket looks at it. "I ain't answering it."

"I can," I go over and answer the transmission, seeing a person from the Nova Corps. "Hi."

_"Hello... Who are you?"_

"We'll get to that later. What do you want?"

_"I'm looking for a Mister Peter Quill...?"_

"He's currently... Unavailable. How can I help you?"

_"Who are you exactly?"_

"Let's go with his secretary."

_"OK... Xandar is hosting a party to celebrate the defeat of Ronan and the prosperity of Xandar. Nova Prime requested for me to extend an invite to the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Udonta Ravager Clan Captain."_

"I'm gonna be honest, that sounds super boring. But I'll pass on the message. Buh-bye." I end the transmission and Rocket laughs. "There, dealt with." I give him a thumbs up and look at Yondu. "You got an invite to a boring ass party. Congrats," I smirk and he hits me upside my head while Kraglin scoffs. There's a beep from the holoscreen and Rocket swipes the thing over to me. I look it over and smirk a bit.

"Hey, the place where that party is has a bunch of shit we could get a whole Hell of a lot of units for." He looks over my shoulder and sees a priceless artifact.

"Yeah. Tha' one can be 'bout..." He drifts off as he thinks and I look at the information on the party.

"The party's about two, three hours long, meal included, so there'd be manpower there, fuel from a ship to get to Xandar, any tech or clothes to blend into the party and be able to get the artifact, and the time to find a buyer for it. It says the party isn't until two solar cycles from now, so that would give a good amount of time to line up a buyer," I say, mostly to myself, and look at the artifact, thinking. "We could probably line up a buyer to buy it for... A billion units, at least, after some heckling. If that doesn't work, we could get about fifty mil?" I shrug one shoulder and look at Yondu.

"Uh... Yeah... Tha's 'bout right... Le's do it..." He nods and had his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Where did you learn any of what you just said?" Rocket scoffs and I shrug one shoulder. "Nuh-uh. Spill."

"I pay attention when people talk and eavesdrop on conversations in the vents when I don't have anything to do in the hangar and my chores are done. Unlike what I've heard about Dad."

"Hey!" I turn and see that he had gotten out of the room. "It's my ship, I know how to get out of that room."

"Let me guess. Cuz Captain locked you up in it when you were a kid cuz you were a little shit?" He looks unamused and I smirk. "So that's a yes. You got an invite to a party celebrating the defeat of Ronan. Ooh, so spectacular," I say sarcastically with an eye roll and look at the information on the party again, swiping a holopad from a nearby area to tally up the cost of what we have to put into the mission.

"What are you doing?" Dad asks and I type numbers into the holopad.

"Shh!" I pause now and then to think and talk to myself under my breath to work through a few things, on autopilot. "Formal dress so whoever goes will need nice clothes... Segs says that those can cost thousands of units... Ten thousand, five for each person who goes... Fuel for the round trip would cost about... A hundred units, maybe more... The ship is a few jumps away from Xandar... Making the cost of fuel go up to five hundred... Total units lost by us... Ten thousand five hundred... Getting fifty mil from the buyer would compensate for the units we spent..." I move to hand Yondu the holopad and notice that I'm on the other side of the ship.

"How'd I wind up over here?"

"You were walking while you were doing whatever you were doing and talking to yourself. Looking like you're insane," Dad supplies and I roll my eyes, going over to Yondu.

"Here's what we'd be spending on formal wear for you and Kraglin and fuel to get from the _Eclector_ to Xandar and back with an M-ship. Give or take a few hundred units. But, I'm pretty sure that's the exact cost."

"Wha' 'bout me an' formal wear?" Kraglin looks at me and I look at him.

"The invite's extended to the Captain and he can take a guest, meaning you."

"Yer kiddin'?"

"Then who would go with him?" They all look at me and I shake my head. "Nuh-uh. Nope. Not a chance. No way. Not happening. I don't do formal wear. Fuck that." 

"Take one for the crew, Rogue," Dad pats a hand on my back and was smirking at me.

"I ain't going unless I'm ordered to." Yondu smirks at me and I look at him. "You're about to order me to go, aren't you?" He nods and I sigh. "Well then... Guess we've got to find a formal wear place, Captain."

"Nah, Segs can make 'em." I don't argue and Rocket docks us in the hangar. "C'mon, girl. Time ta see Segs."

"Woo-hoo!" I follow him off of the ship and to Segs's workshop.

"Captain, my dear!" He smiles brightly at us and I return the hug he gives me. "What can I do for the two of you?"

"We need formal wear, Segs. Can you help us out?"

"I'm afraid I can't. I don't have the supplies to make formal wear onboard the ship. I can, however, come with you to find a good shop and I'll help you pick them out. Come along." He leads us out and we follow, Yondu looking pissed.

"I'm guessing telling you I told you so would be a bad idea?" He glares at me and I put my hands up slightly. "Never mind." We go into the hangar and onto the _Warbird_. Yondu sits in the pilot's chair and Segs sits in the co-pilot chair.

"Strap in, girl." I sit in the other chair and strap in. He pilots us out of the hangar and somewhere that had a lot of shops, Kraglin being left in charge of the ship.


	14. Chapter 14

We land on the planet and Yondu looks at me. "Stay 'ere fer a bit," He rumbles and gets off with Segs. I stay on and get a transmission from the _Milano_ , titled _Idiots_. I snort and answer it, seeing Rocket.

"Hey, Rocket. What's up?"

_"Where's the blue idiot?"_

"Where's the rest of your team?"

_"Alright, moving on. I got a job for stealing stuff but the people we're stealing from for the job want me dead."_

"Well... That sounds like an interesting plan to make."

_"You wanna be part of it?"_

"Wait, what?"

_"The stuff we'd be stealing is worth a lot and we'd be showing pompous assholes where to shove it. What do you say, kid?"_

"Does Dad know about this? Never mind... Why me?"

_"They don't want you dead, you're small, and you're bound to be useful."_

"Gee, thanks." I notice Yondu coming back with Segs and quickly wrap the conversation up. "Sounds good, Rocket. But it's gonna have to be after the job on Xandar." He nods and ends the transmission while I clear it from the recent transmissions, playing music to cover up why I was using the ship's systems.

"Jus' like yer Daddy," He scoffs as he turns it off and I turn to look at them. "Ya ready ta fin' formal wear, girl?"

"Let's get this over with," I sigh and stand, heading off of the ship with them. Segs leads us to a store and we follow. We go into a store and I look around, surprised because it's huge.

"What do you think, my dear?"

"There's a lot of clothes..." He chuckles while Yondu snorts and they both look at me, noticing that I've skyrocketed up in height and was wearing some of Kraglin's old leathers. "What?"

"Nothin'. Why ya wearin' Krags' old leathers?"

"Segs has been busy with other stuff and I fit into Kraglin's old leathers decently. And I keep one of my patches on me." I take it out of my pocket and show him. "See?" I put it back in my pocket and look around a bit more. "Besides, Terrans and growth sprouts go hand in hand and Kraglin gave me these to wear the other day cuz he remembered Quill growing when he was my age." I shrug one shoulder and follow Segs to an area for Yondu first.

"Damn. This one looks dope," I murmur to myself at a black tux and look at the price. "And never mind." I look at the other two and just put my hands in my pockets while they get Yondu measured.

"Think of the type of dress you'd like, my dear," Segs smiles and continues to measure Yondu.

"Y'know, I'd look way cooler in a tux. And I'd be able to hide weapons better," I try and Segs give me an unamused look.

"That is not happening."

"Worth a shot," I sigh as I shrug and look in the large mirror they were standing in front of, thinking. "Where are the dresses?" Segs points toward them and I nod. "I'll head that way. I've got all of my weapons, Captain," I say when Yondu opens his mouth to say something and he narrows his eyes at me in the mirror. "I'll be fine."

"Ya betta. Git."

"Aye, Captain." I go over to the dresses and look around absently, sighing softly. "OK... Um... How would Kat decide what dress to wear? Cost... Color... Style... Length... And how it looks on you... I think..." I look around a bit and see an attendant. "Hey, excuse me," I say carefully and she looks at me. "Would you be able to help me out here?" She looks at my leathers and runs off. "Well, that was rude..." I let out a huff of breath and look at the dresses on the robots, trying to find one that I like.

The other two find me sitting on a bench with my arms crossed while my head was hung slightly and I look up when I hear their footsteps. "Any luck my dear?"

"Nope," I pop the 'p' and he looks at me. "I asked an attendant and she fucking bolted after seeing my leathers. Rude as Hell." Yondu snorts and I stand, stretching. "Guess I can't go. That's too bad. Oh well. Let's go." I try to leave and get choked when Yondu grabs my collar, stopping me.

"Naw, yer gittin' a dress. Don'cha worry none."

"Yay!" I cheer sarcastically and he snickers as he pushes me toward Segs.

"Let us find you a dress, darling." He looks at me and motions for me to spin. "Do a spin."

"Do I have to?" He nods and I do a small spin, rolling my eyes as I do. "Tah-dah!" He chuckles and thinks.

"What colors do you like, my dear?"

"Seriously?" He nods and I think. "OK... Whatever this color is," I motion to the leathers and Segs nods. "Black and... Blue. For some sentimental reason or something. I don't know." I shrug one shoulder and Segs nods, going toward some dresses with me following.

"Would you turn around?" He asks a robot in a floor-length dress that resembled the color of my leathers and the robot turns, showing that the dress was one that would fit well to the person's body type. I look it over and it was nice. "How about this one, my dear?"

"Sure. Can we leave now?"

"You have to try it on." He gets one in my size and hands it to me. "Go on." He pushes me toward the changing rooms and I let out a huff of breath, shutting the door to change into it. I change into it and look at myself in the mirror, swallowing slightly when I see some pale scars on my shoulders. I let my hair down from its ponytail and it covers them.

"If I got to do this, I don't want Captain to see until I have to wear it," I call and hear Yondu scoff.

"Fine." He leaves and I wait a few moments before leaving the changing room.

"Lovely!" Segs smiles and I smile a bit back. "Now, you need an outfit for Quill's wedding!"

"No!" He pauses and looks at me, shocked. "I mean, no. I'm going to wear my leathers. He'll be seeing me in this in a couple of solar cycles and he'll be dealing with seeing me in leathers on his wedding day. Alright?" He nods and I get changed back into my leathers.

We walk back to the ship with my dress, some shoes, a shawl, and Yondu's suit and strap in before Yondu pilots back to the _Eclector_. "How much time do we have before Quill's wedding, Captain?" Segs asks and Yondu looks at the time.

"One and a half hours," I supply and Yondu glances at me. "He keeps sending me messages every thirty minutes. I'm going to confiscate his wrist com. Gods, he's annoying the Hell out of me." I get another message and look at it. "That idiot isn't going to live to make it to be married because he just sent me another message telling me to make sure I shower." Yondu lets out a bark of laughter and Segs looks surprised.

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Later, I get out of the shower and wring my hair out after getting dressed in pants, a bra, and a tank top. My door opens and I turn my head to see Kraglin waiting outside the door to my bathroom. "Yes, Kraglin?"

"Wha's with yer wrists?" I look at them and shrug, seeing some scars.

"No clue. What you want?"

"Yer Daddy's gittin' stupid 'bout ya. Says yer takin' fer ever." I roll my eyes and finish wringing my hair out, flipping it over my head to rest on my back as I straighten up. He tosses me the long sleeve shirt and I pull it on before pulling on the jacket he tosses me. "Ya ready?"

"Almost. Got to brush this shit." I flip my hair out of my clothes and quickly tug my brush through it, yanking at knots.

"Damn, tha's pain," He scoffs and I shrug one shoulder, finishing up with the brushing of it.

"Thoughts on what to do with it?"

"Wha'cha mean?"

"Put it up, leave it down, chop it off?" He looks at me and I pull a hair tie onto my wrist, waiting for a response.

"Up." I nod and pull it into a ponytail easily as we leave. "Ya got yer weapons?" I nod and he looks me over to ensure I do. "Good." He pats my shoulder and leads me off of the ship since we were docked on the planet they were getting married on.

"This is about to be boring as Hell... Gamora forbids any stealing today... Or killing..." I finish my hair and pull it to be tight, rolling my eyes slightly. "At least you guys can drink to make it less dull." He pats my shoulder and directs me to sit next to Yondu, Rocket behind me, while Dad pulls Kraglin to stand next to him and Mantis was waiting across from Kraglin, smiling.

"Wow, you showed up just before Gamora's supposed to. Congrats," Rocket snarks and I roll my eyes, turning to look at him. "What took you so long?"

"I may wake up looking amazing, but Quill messaged me to make sure I took a shower and that I washed my hair." He snorts at that and looks at my hair. "It's thick and difficult to dry. And when it does dry, there are knots and I have to brush it. It's annoying."

"Then cut it."

"I will. After that job." He nods and I turn back around, waiting with feigned patience for the wedding to get on with it.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the vows part of the wedding is over, the dancing part starts and the first dance is for Dad and Gamora. I use this to my advantage and threaten the DJ to let me sing a song. He lets me and I sing _Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang_ for their dance. Gamora says something to him and he smiles, kissing her gently. When he pulls away, he points at the DJ before pointing at me as I come from behind the DJ booth and I look at him. "Get over here!"

"Why?!" Kraglin shoves me over and I glare at him before looking back at Dad, _Smooth Criminal_ playing. "No!"

"Yes! Dance-off! I got this song, you choose yours! Easy!" 

"No, I'm not doing a dance-off with you!" 

"Would you do it with Jay?" He crosses his arms and I think for a moment before shrugging. "Fine! If Jay beats me, he does one with you. If not, you have to do one with me! Deal?" I glance at Jay and he shrugs.

"Nah! I don't feel like dancing right now!" He mutters something and I barely hear it, going over to him because I thought he said something about the Skrull and my grandparents. "What was that?"

"Nothing."

"No, you said something. What was it?"

"Nothing, Rogue. Lighten up." He chuckles nervously and I cross my arms, glaring at him.

"Spill. Now." He repeats what he said softly so only I could hear and I tense slightly. He says something else and I just nod slightly. "I'm going back to the ship. Enjoy your whatever this is now," I say simply and leave to go back to the _Eclector_ , walking calmly.

I sit on my bunk in my quarters and lean against the wall, holding my Walkman in my hands before slipping the headphones on. I get off of my bed and go to the gym, clipping my Walkman to my waistband. The rest of the crew is at the wedding and I decide that now's a good a time as any to practice hand to hand combat with a punching bag after peeling off my jacket and long sleeve shirt so I don't get too hot. I do everything Kraglin's taught me to do when working with a punching bag and make sure to avoid the kickback after I hit it, ducking away like I would if I were getting swung at.

I catch the bag to catch my breath and Dad's words repeat in my head.

_"_ _Your grandparents sold you to the Skrull for some of their alcohol. And your sister died in Kraglin's arms while Dad tried to save her after they promised to watch out for you, keep you safe, make sure you didn't see her like that and that you didn't find out what your grandparents did. Dad and Krags told me about it that night you broke into his quarters to steal the machine for cleaning the vents."_ That gives me a new wind since it pisses me off and I go back to what I was doing, music blaring through my headphones.

When I reach the end of the tape, I catch the punching bag and shove my headphones around my neck, grabbing my shirt and jacket as I leave. The ship's still empty and I head to controls, thinking. I hack into the lock on Yondu's quarters and go in, deciding to chill in there as I toss my Walkman and headphones on the bar with my jacket and shirt. I plop on the couch and work on my lessons, waiting for Yondu to get an alert that someone broke into his quarters.

Yondu's arrow flies for my face and I catch it as Yondu and Kraglin walk in. "Hello, boys," I smirk at them and hold Yondu's arrow in my open hand. "You want this back or should I hold onto it?" He whistles and catches it in his hand by his head, putting it in its holster while Kraglin crosses his arms, looking at me. I take my hair down and slip the hair tie on my wrist, running my fingers through my hair a bit.

"Wha'cha doin' in m'quarters, girl?" Yondu growls and I cross my leg so my ankle's resting on my knee while leaning back with my arms crossed over my chest.

"What happened to the crate of liquor?" They both look confused and look at each other before looking at me again. "Let me make it simpler... What happened to the crate of liquor my grandparents sold me to the Skrull for? Did it break when they were taken care of? Did they blow up in the fire? Did you steal it because it was good liquor? What happened to it?"

"Wha'cha talkin' 'bout, kid? Yer shitty family ain't sell ya ta the Skrull for liquor," Kraglin scoffs and I look at him.

"You may look stupid, but I know better, so don't pull that bullshit with me." He looks offended and shocked and I look between them. "Quill told me. He said that you two had finished telling him about it when you found out I was in here that night I took that machine out of here to try to finish cleaning the vents." They rub the back of their necks and I sit up, putting both feet on the floor.

"I don't give a damn about my shitty grandparents. I just want to know about my sister. The liquor was just a good way to bring it up. How'd she die?"

"One 'a 'em grabbed yer granddaddy's gun an' shot 'er in 'er chest," Yondu tells me and I nod, folding my hands in my lap as I think.

"Was she in pain? And did you guys seriously try to save her?"

"Yeah, Ah did. An' naw. She jus'... Went ta sleep, girl," He says carefully and I nod again, resting my elbows on my knees so I can rest my forehead against my folded hands.

"She made you guys promise to watch out for me, keep me safe, to not let me see her like that, and that you wouldn't tell me about what they did, right?"

"Yeah, kid, she did... She cared 'bout ya... Prolly the only person on Terra tha' did, huh?" I scoff slightly and rub my face slightly after unfolding my hands.

"After our Mom died? Yeah, she was. Everyone else that knew me, hated me for something I had no control over." I shrug one shoulder and let out a huff of breath while Yondu gets drinks.

"Wanna tell us 'bout 'er?" Kraglin asks as he sits across from me and Yondu throws my clothes at me. 

"Git yer clothes on!" I pull them on and pull my hair from under it, thinking.

"You wanna hear about her?" He shrugs and Yondu comes over with three generously filled glasses. _Why three?_ He hands one to Kraglin then holds another out to me and I take it. "What are you trying to poison me with?" I scoff and he rolls his eyes, sitting in his preferred chair. 

"Tha' helps with tellin' stories tha' hurt," He smirks and I raise an eyebrow slightly while he takes a large gulp with Kraglin. "Try some." He nods toward it and smirks.

"Fuck it. Cheers." I barely raise it before taking a swig of it and close my eyes as it burns my throat, clearing my throat slightly. "Damn, that burned on the way down. Tasted good though," I scoff and just rest my hand on my leg while they snicker at me. "Hey, screw you two."

"Ya gonna tell us 'bout yer sister or jus' sit 'ere an' annoy us with yer presence?" Kraglin smirks at me and I roll my eyes, thinking about Kat.

"OK... Let's see... She was seventeen, in either eleventh or twelfth grade, the last two grades of high school before you have the option to go to college," I explain when they look confused and they nod slightly.

"She had an after school job to be able to buy me anything I needed, like clothes, shoes, food, school supplies, and my medicine. She'd either have me go to her school once I was let out of mine or she'd pick me up after she was let out then she'd take me with her to her job. She kinda became my Mom when ours died..."

"She ain't never have a problem doin' all 'a tha'?"

"Going to school full time and working most of the night to get paid five dollars an hour, which was less than minimum wage in our state? There were a lot of problems, but she covered them up and didn't tell me about them. I helped with what I could, mainly her homework. She made sure I was book smart and when kids or our grandparents would beat me up, she made sure I got cleaned up. She was going to graduate high school and move us out of that state, taking us somewhere that she could learn to be a doctor. She wasn't a fan of stealing and would get pissed when I would steal from people but accepted what I'd give her after I did. Mainly because it was mostly money and it helped her with buying stuff and sometimes food, meaning she didn't have to buy that. If she had a grave, she'd be turning in it right now..." I smirk a bit and take a drink from my glass.

"Ya can go with yer Daddy if ya wanna. We ain't gonna keep ya 'ere," Yondu says shortly and I scoff, looking at him.

"So far, anything I've tried to do has ended with me almost dying or almost killing someone else. I'm good at being a Ravager. You ain't getting rid of me that easily, Gramps." I finish the drink and stand, setting the empty glass on the bar as I grab my Walkman before I turn to look at them. "I'm good at stealing shit and my sister may not have approved of it if she were still here, but she isn't. Even if she were still here, I wouldn't stop being a Ravager because I'm good at it, it's what I want to do with my life, and it's in my blood. Even if Dad's a shit Ravager. I'm going to bed, it's going toward 2300. Have fun, Captain, Kraglin." I nod slightly and leave, going to my quarters. I flop down on my bunk and fall asleep nearly instantly.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wake at 0700 and run my fingers through my hair as I head to mess. The entire crew was there with Dad and his group and I get my food, going to sit across from my idiotic family. "'Sup, kid," Rocket smirks at me and I raise my hand slightly in greeting, pulling my hair into a ponytail. "You're usually up early. You and Quill switched roles today, huh?"

"Screw you, Rat," I scoff, rolling my eyes, and he snickers while I start to eat.

"So, who's making the plan for the job?"

"Which one?" I ask without thinking and he looks at me with momentarily wide eyes before I realize what I said. "What? I've been with Nudran so I've been looking over missions to find good ones and make plans for them. The one on Xandar with the boring party as cover, right?" Yondu nods and looks between me and Rocket.

"Wha's goin' on 'tween the two 'a yas?" Kraglin asks and I eat, hungry.

"Nothing. Kid's just an idiot." I glare at Rocket and he smirks at me. "Just like Quill."

"Ya got a plan fer this, Rat?"

"Nah, not yet."

"The invitation was for all of us, Groot too," Dad says and I take a drink of the caffeinated drink Cookie gave me, feeling myself wake more. I think about the plan for the job, my eyes flitting from each person at the table in thought then to other spots, and absentmindedly tap my utensil against my tray.

"Ya gotta do tha'?" Yondu raises an eyebrow at me and I stop, setting it down.

"My bad." I finish my drink and set the cup on the tray, folding my hands while I put my elbows on the table. "We got the layout of the place?" Rocket taps a few things and my wrist com buzz from under my sleeves. I roll them up a bit and transfer the layout onto an empty holopad, which I grabbed from Yondu's room last night as I left. I look at it and follow a vent to the roof, thinking.

"What is with you and vents?" Rocket snorts from next to me and I simply flip him off while continuing to map out a plan for the job. Groot was watching me from where he was standing on the table and I grab him, moving him to my shoulder.

"You're getting leaves in my food," I say simply and he sits on my shoulder, watching me pick leaves out of my food while still mapping out a plan.

"Wha'cha thinkin', kid?"

"Groot in the vents that lead to the roof, you on the roof, give Groot the artifact, Groot takes the artifact to you, we stay to save face, and find a buyer immediately following leaving the party."

"And if Groot gets found in the vents?"

"He can only talk to you guys because you're the only ones that understand his 'I am Groot' bullshit. Tell them he was playing hide and seek with me. Terran game," I say simply and look at Groot. "So, squirt, what do you say about helping us steal shit?" I smile charmingly at him and he smiles back.

"I am Groot!"

"For you to smile at him, anything. That is sweet, Groot," Gamora says and smiles at me.

"When do I start understanding the Bonsai tree?"

"What the Hell is a bonsai tree?"

"That tree Mr. Miyagi is always cutting at in the _Karate Kid_ , idiot," I tell Dad simply and he nods slightly, drinking from his mug.

"Want to elaborate on your plan some more than just short sentences?" He raises an eyebrow at me and I pop a piece of what looks like fruit into my mouth, smirking at him.

"Have to have some mystery about me, don't I?" He looks unamused and I give him a grin that copies Yondu's knife smirk. "We need to keep the plan between the people in on it to reduce the risk of the Nova Corps finding out."

"Captain's quarters?" Dad suggests and barely shake my head. "Where then?" I close my fist then put my finger to my lips to tell him to shut up and he does, raising an eyebrow at me. I make a very small circle with my utensil as I pick it up and he carefully looks around, noticing a few crewmates watching us. "Ah... OK..."

"Mhmm..." I say barely audibly and look at Yondu and Kraglin. "We still docked planetside?"

"Gives the crew time ta rest after tha' party," Kraglin explains quietly and I barely nod. "Why, wha'cha thinkin'?"

"I have some units stockpiled. I'm gonna go planetside and buy some stuff." I finish my food and deal with my tray. "If you guys show up, my treat for lunch," I smirk and leave mess, going to my quarters to get my stockpile of units.

"What you gonna buy planetside, kid?" I turn and see Cron leaning in my doorway. "And how do you have a stockpile of units? You think you're better than us because you're the Captain and First Mate's pet?" He sneers and I put the pouch in a hidden pocket, zipping it up.

"Get away from my doorway before I make you." He steps into my quarters and I level my new blaster at him. "Get the fuck out of my quarters or you're gonna be dead before you hit the ground," I snarl and he scoffs, stepping out when I press my blaster to his chest. I keep it there until he's pressed against the wall across from my quarters and lower it, punching him in the face hard. He falls to the floor and I put my blaster back, walking away.

"Come back here, you little bitch!" I flip him off as I walk and get off of the ship, tapping a few things on my wrist com to see where the others were. They were all grouped near a stage and I head toward it, glancing around often.

"Took you long enough," Rocket scoffs and I roll my eyes, noticing whatever the authority people were called watching us. "What now?"

"The security or whatever the cops are called here have people watching us."

"Defense Officers," Dad supplies and Kraglin carefully looks around to see that I was right.

"They ain't bein' subtle 'bout watchin' us," He scoffs and I barely nod, thinking.

"How we gonna distract them enough that they don't notice us slipping away?" I look around at the others and they look at me. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Get on that stage and do one of your songs or something. Figure it out. You got this," Dad says as he pats my shoulder and I look at him then the Defense Officers to see them closing in a bit. "Now would be a great time to do it," He chuckles nervously and I sigh.

"Fine. And if this is just a way to hear me sing, I'm gonna shoot you."

"Promises, promises," He smirks and I go toward some of the Defense Officers. They look at me and follow me as I go toward the stage, getting on it. The others slip away since all of the Defense Officers were following me and I let out a huff of breath.

"Hello, people of Ivomia! I have no clue what you guys have going on right now but I have a song or two that has a very powerful message! You guys like music with meaning, right?" They cheer and I notice the others hiding in the shadows. "Then you're going to love these songs!" I tap a few things on a holopad and the audio of one of the songs pops up for me to play. "Ready?" They cheer again and I press play, taking a slow breath.


	15. Chapter 15

"How about one of you explain what's happening right now?"

"It's a celebration of life and to educate people on why you shouldn't end your life but also on why people might end their lives!" One person explains and I nod, noticing the Defense Officers looking around to find the others.

"Guess I chose a couple of good songs, then! They're both Terran songs, I heard them while traveling there for work," I chuckle softly and take a deep breath before starting to go along with the song, both of them rap songs.

_"She's only 17, her whole life's ahead of her.  
She hates school because the people there discredit her.  
Her boyfriend tries to show her that's not how it seems.  
But every day she just gets lowered with her self-esteem.  
  
He lets her know that every night will have a brighter day,  
She even tried to overdose and take her life away.  
She's feeling hopeless there just sitting down beside her bed,  
And then he takes his hand and places it beside her head.  
  
He tries to hold her but with every touch she still resists,  
And then he sees the scars that bury deep within her wrists,  
She's feeling numb, he tries to beg and plead and ask her, "Why?"  
She says this way she has control of pain she feels inside.  
  
He's asking her, "How long it's going since you've felt this way?  
Because you got me here, just feeling so damn helpless."  
She says, "It's been a while. I guess I needed better luck."  
And then he screams at her and tells her, "Baby, never cut!"  
  
Nobody seems to get you, you feel you're on your own,  
But listen, pretty lady, you don't have to be alone.  
So, baby, don't cut, baby, don't cut.  
You can do anything, just promise, baby, you won't cut._ _"_ Throughout the song, I act out some of the verses to hit it home and the crowd breaks into applause.

"What's the second song?" Someone in the crowd calls and I chuckle softly, getting the second song's audio ready while taking a deep breath.

_"Yeah, look  
Let me tell you about a kid named Steven  
He's slowly running out of things to believe in  
Every couple of months his mom leaves him,  
For no good reason, his step-dad beats him  
  
Not too many friends, only ever had a few of them,  
But recently they don't want anything to do with him  
Always eating lunch in the bathroom stall,  
He just wants to feel normal and be cool again, yeah  
  
Always feeling like the outcast,  
He's been going crazy ever since his dad passed  
He needs guidance and advice  
But instead, he only has breakdowns and flashbacks of the car crash uh  
  
It's been getting harder every day,  
If he was still around everything would be OK  
'Cause his dad was always the light at the end of the tunnel,  
But now that same damn tunnel is looking dark and grey  
  
He keeps quiet in the back of the class  
And when the bell rings Steven hurries home fast  
He's scared to death the other kids will kick his ass on the long walk home  
'Cause it's happened in the past so  
  
He's getting used to the black eyes and fat lips  
But all he's got is a fake smile and cut wrists  
Wishin' he could walk right up to them, show them the scars  
And say, "Look, you're the reason that I've done this."  
  
And maybe they would finally understand  
And go back to how it was before it all began  
But he's just a little different so they taunt him and they beat him  
Yeah it's all just fun and games, they don't give a damn, yeah  
  
His older brother ain't around,  
In and out of jail, hanging with the wrong crowd  
He's been doing coke, smoking weed, getting drunk all his life he's a shame  
No, he's not too proud  
  
Now his habits are rubbing off on his little bro yeah,  
But guess what? Little did he know that every time he did a line,  
Every time he lit a joint,  
Every time he took a shot he would set the mode,  
  
So Steven's sitting in his room getting high now  
Doors locked, music up, with the lights out  
He just takes another toke 'til his room fills with smoke  
5-6-7 hours 'til he knocks out  
  
Now he started stealing pills from his mom  
8-9-10 at a time and now they're gone  
And maybe for a moment, all his problems seem to fade,  
But the high fades too after not too long  
  
And that's when it really sinks in  
And that's when it hits him  
That these god damn drugs won't fix him  
Curled up on the floor,  
Can't take it anymore  
Now he's talking to God  
'Cause he's the only one that gets him  
  
On his knees, looking up, can't stop crying  
"God, I know we haven't talked in a long time  
But this time I really need you.  
Please, God, help me, say something, just give me a sign,  
'Cause now I'm falling apart and I don't think that I can do it.  
Please, God, give me the strength to pull through it.  
Tell me, should I give up? I could end it all right now.  
I just don't know if I'm brave enough to do it.  
  
'Cause, there's gotta be a better way than suicide.  
Try to wait it out, give it time, you'll be fine.  
But it's been so long and I still haven't been able  
To get rid of all the thoughts that I feel inside.  
  
So sick, so angry, so mad  
And to top it off no one even knows that."  
That's when he stood up, wiped his tears,  
Walked over to his desk and got a pen and a notepad  
  
He just couldn't see it getting any better  
So on a cold dark night in December,  
Steven knew exactly what he had to do  
But first, he sat down and wrote a couple letters  
  
One to his step-dad, one to his mother,  
Couple to the kids at school, one to his brother  
Bringing them the pain that they once brought him  
Teardrops on the paper one after another  
  
"Yeah, I hope that you all feel guilty  
'Cause I'm broken now and you can't heal me  
And now you're all an accomplice in murder  
Each and every one of you've chipped in to kill me  
  
So the reason that I'm writing you this evening  
Is to say goodbye and tell you that I'm leaving  
But don't hold your breath 'cause I ain't never coming back.  
—  
Sincerely yours, Steven"_ I did the same with this song as the other one and they cheer again before they all start embracing each other, including the Defense Officers. I smirk slightly and skirt around backstage, moving quickly to meet the others in the shadows. I make sure to duck behind things and between people, ducking into the shadows with them after a minute.

"Are you OK?" Dad asks, concerned, and I roll my eyes, putting my hair in a ponytail. "Seemed like you wiped away actual tears at one point," He mutters and pats my shoulder awkwardly.

"I'm fine. I'm a good actress," I smirk and lead the way through some alleys.

I pause suddenly and put my hand up when Dad is about to say something, making him fall silent. I hear someone walking toward us and pull something out of my pocket as they turn the corner. It's a Defense Officer and I grab them, covering their mouth. "Now, you can either be smart and not struggle meaning I just knock you out... Or you can be stupid and I put this little orb in your mouth, force it down your throat, and you're temporarily paralyzed, unable to do anything except lay here and breathe if you're on your side. If not... You're dead. Your choice, pal," I hiss and he struggles, making me tsk. "Wrong choice." I shove the orb in his mouth and down his throat.

He seizes up and becomes dead weight after a moment. I lower him to the ground and prop him against some garbage, making sure he won't fall over for a second. "Cool, have some fun, pal," I smirk and pat his shoulder lightly, leading the way through the alley.

More Defense Officers were waiting and had blasters leveled at us. "Captain Yondu Udonta, you and your group are wanted for thievery," The head Honcho says to me and I nod slightly, hands in my pockets. "Tell the Centaurian to stand down!" He barks and I look at Yondu, shrugging one shoulder. He narrows his eyes but steps back. "All of you put your weapons on the ground. As well as any devices you have on you," He looks at me and I take my hands out of my pockets, having six small orbs between my fingers.

"Like these?" He nods and I nod slightly before throwing one of them at each Defense Officer, clicking a button on my wrist com. They all seize up at the shocks going through them and fall to the ground, unconscious. "They're technically on the ground... They're just embedded in your skin..." I carefully step over them and get to the end of the alley, the others looking at me.

"Why...? How...? What?" Dad looks at me and I smirk.

"You guys coming?" They follow me and I only now notice Groot on Drax's shoulder, leading the way to a seedy joint.

"Wha' d'ya want?" The guy behind the counter barks and I go over.

"My treat, remember?" I smirk at Yondu and look at the guy behind the counter. "You got any private rooms?"

"Ya want some girls in with ya?"

"Freaky and no."

"Then we got one that ain't got cameras for all of ya's." He drops a key on the counter and slides it away from me when I try to grab it. "Units?"

"Price?"

"Start listing numbers and I'll letcha know when ya reach one I like," He smirks and I smirk back, grabbing him by the collar suddenly.

"Look... I ain't got the time or patience for your bullshit. So, give me a number on your own and make it reasonable or I'll give you the amount it takes to fix a broken face. Clear?" He nods and I let go of him, waiting.

"Hundred units for a private room that ain't got cameras, no girls, and no mics. That reasonable enough?" I respond by giving him the units and snatching the key. "The back and to the right. First blue door. Like that Centaurian," He says and I nod, leading the way there. "What you want to the room for?" I simply flip him off and go to the room.

"What? The seedier joints were closed today?"

"The seedier the joint, the less the owners will want any authority that could ship them off of the planet in the joint. Keeps us covered on that front," I say simply as I open the door and point to a couple of large windows near the ceiling of the room but we'd still be able to reach to climb out. "And they have windows for a quick getaway in case of a raid by said authority."

"You got a way of knowing there's a raid?" I nod toward the holoscreens on the walls that showed the outside of the joint and Dad nods. "Alright. That's fair. What's the plan?" I tap something on the wall and flick my fingers to get rid of whatever was now on them.

"We all go in, dressed to the nines. Kraglin waits on the roof, making sure he's not seen. We waste a bit of time and halfway through, they're going to do a thing to commemorate those who died that day. We use that to our advantage. Rocket and two people of his choice go with him to keep an eye out for guards. I suggest Mantis for one of them because she can probably do magic antenna things or something."

"I've explained what she can do, Rogue," Dad says in an annoyed tone and I shrug.

"When you open your mouth, you sound like the adults in the Charlie Brown movies. Your voice is annoying. Moving on... Groot will be put into the vents while we find a way to the artifact so we can get it without being seen and we give him the artifact to take to Kraglin. When you two meet, you send Groot back down and head back to the _Eclector_ to find a buyer while we stay and keep suspicions off of us."

"So everything rests on Groot?"

"Kinda..."

"I am Groot!"

"You'll be fine, squirt. It's easy," I reply simply and do a slight double-take. "Huh... Well then... That makes it easier."

"Cool. Explain it to him."

"You got holo copies of the layout?" Rocket rolls his eyes and sets a holoscreen holder on the floor, pulling up the layout. "Alright, listen closely, Groot. Your job is easy but you need to not fuck up. OK?" He nods and I give him a thumbs-up, smirking at Rocket. "You made it seem like this would be difficult," I scoff and he smirks.

"Explain his part of the plan."

"You'll be in the vents," I point to a vent opening after getting to the two different stories we'll be on and start to trace the vent to the second floor. "And you'll go through them to get here. Once you're in the vents, you've gotta keep quiet. So, you'll start here," I point to the first-floor vent opening and trace the path he'll take to the second-floor vent opening. "And take this vent to here. Once you're here, we'll be there and have the artifact to give to you. We'll give it to you and you'll go up this vent," I trace it to the roof and he watches closely. "To this vent thing on the roof, giving the artifact to Kraglin and come back once he's gone. Got it?"

"I am Groot."

"Great. Repeat it back to me, then." He points to the first-floor vent opening and traces the same vent.

"I am Groot."

"Yup." He points at the second-floor vent opening and then me.

"I am Groot."

"Uh-huh, you get the artifact from one of us. Then?" He traces up the vent and stops at the roof vent thing, pointing at Kraglin.

"I am Groot."

"Then you give it to Kraglin. Good. Once he's gone?"

"I am Groot!"

"No, you don't go with him."

"I am Groot?"

"No, you don't find Nova Prime."

"I am Groot...?"

"No. You don't find a fountain to drink from it. Where... Where did that even come from?"

"I am Groot!"

"Yes! You come back to us! Good job. Go through it again."

"I am Groot."

"Mhmm."

"I am Groot."

"Yup."

"I am Groot."

"Uh-huh."

"I am Groot!"

"Is there a fountain in this damned building?" I look through it and see that there is. "Huh, guess so... Uh, yeah. We'll meet you at the fountain when Kraglin's gone with the artifact. Your part one more time."

"I am Groot." He points at the first-floor vent opening and I nod. "I am Groot." He points to the second-floor vent opening and I nod again. "I am Groot." He points to the roof vent thing and I nod. "I am Groot."

"Yes. Good. Good job." I pat his head and he smiles. I smile back and take my hair down to run my hands through it, freezing while I look at the holoscreens on the wall. "Is it just me or has that same thing walked across that camera in the same direction three times without passing any of the other cameras?" The others look and notice the creature walk across the holoscreen.

It walks across the same way a minute later, the same thing, and I stand while Rocket gathers the holoscreen holder up. Yondu goes over to the door and grabs the handle. I physically pull him away and put myself between him and the door, hearing beeping coming from the other side.

It suddenly explodes toward us and I get numerous pieces of the broken door lodged in my back, grunting. "Got any more of those gadgets, kid?" Rocket asks and Dad braces me while I get some out of my pocket, handing Rocket some darts this time. He throws them and the Defense Officers fall to the floor after three seconds of swaying. "Where did you even get these from?"

"Can we worry about that after we're out of here?"

"Yeah, c'mon, kid," Kraglin says as he wraps my arm around his shoulders, his arm around my waist, and supports me as we head back to the ship. I hold tightly to his jacket and walk with some difficulty, my legs not wanting to cooperate while blood slowly pools from my back.

"Her blood will be a direct lead to the ship for the Defense Officers to find us," Drax says and I make Kraglin stop, leaning against the wall of the alley. "Now what are you doing?"

"Shut up, Drax," I mutter while Kraglin holds my shoulder and watches me. I undo the jacket and yank it off of my shoulders, sending some of the debris to the ground with a clatter while gritting my teeth against the pain.

"You missed one," Dad helpfully tells me and I reach around, yanking it out of my body. "And now there's a lot of blood."

"Will you shut up?" I growl and take off the long sleeve shirt, ripping it into pieces to use as bandages. I wad a piece up and hand it to Dad.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I roll my eyes and guide his hand to press it to the one that's bleeding the most. "Oh..."

"Hold it there a second..." I pass him one end of a strip and he helps me wrap it around myself before tying it over the wad.

"Where did you learn to do all of this?" Gamora asks and I use my teeth to rip the shirt into more strips.

"Terra," I say shortly and Dad helps me get strips tied on to keep pressure on the wounds while I subtly look Yondu over for injuries.

"'M fine, girl. Ya got most 'a the crap from tha' door," He tells me and I nod slightly, pulling my jacket back on.

"You happy now, Drax? I'm not leaving a trail of blood." Drax just nods and we continue, Kraglin staying by my side while we walk behind the others, Yondu on my other side.

"Ya a'ight, kid?" He asks softly and I barely shrug my shoulder. "Ya want some 'elp?"

"Nah, I'm good." I keep walking and twist my ankle in a hole that I don't notice. Kraglin catches me before I can hit the ground and pulls me back to my feet.

"Yeah, yer good," He scoffs and puts our arms in the spots they were in before Drax started complaining about me bleeding. "Yer gittin' some 'elp," He says simply and supports me as we walk. "Why didja push Cap outta the way 'a tha' door?"

"There was beeping. Beeping usually means a boom is coming." I shrug one shoulder and we continue walking, Yondu watching me. "Can't let the Captain get pieces of a door lodged into his chest and stomach."

"But ya can let 'em git stuck in yer back?" He raises an eyebrow at me and I grin at him.

"I know Terran biology and anatomy. I don't know Centaurian and I doubt anyone else does, other than Doc. It was the smarter route to take. Hurt like Hell, yeah, but I'll be fine. Doc will probably keep me in Med for a while to make sure I don't die. Which I won't," I assure quietly and he looks at me suspiciously.

"Tha's yer reason fer takin' m'spot in front 'a tha' door? Yer only reason?" He looks closely at me and I nod.

"Yes, Captain." He nods and we continue the walk in silence. It wasn't the only reason but I've learned not to admit to those types of things and limp next to Kraglin while he helps me walk.

"Ya a'ight, kid?"

"Yeah. Just twisted my ankle hard. That's all. We're almost at the port where we're docked. I'll be fine." He nods and we board the ship. He helps me to Med and Doc was waiting.

"Put her on that bunk." He helps me onto it and Doc looks me over. "Take your jacket off." I slide it off of my shoulders and Yondu and Kraglin leave to let Doc do what they need to do. "You did a good job of treating the injuries in the field. It's always in your best interest to keep your blood in your body." I nod and they patch my back up.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Be careful and whatever you do, don't pull your stitches. OK?" I nod and pull a new tank top, shirt, and jacket on.

"You got it, Doc. Thanks." I smile at them and head out of Med, going to find something to do, other than work in the hangar.

"Girl!" I pause and turn, seeing Yondu as I give him and Kraglin the Ravager Salute like they've taught me to do when a First Mate, Captain, or a lead wants to talk to me. They return it and I look at them, wondering what's up.

"Yes, Captain?"

"Wha'cha headin' ta do?"

"I'm not heading to any specific place, just anywhere someone might need help. Doc told me to be careful of my stitches so I'm taking that into account, Cap." He nods and carefully shoves me into a storage closet.

"Git," He says to some crewmembers in there and they leave. Yondu and Kraglin both look at me and I look at them, hands at the small of my back for now because I don't know what else to do with them. "Ah need ya ta do somethin' fer us, girl."

"OK. What do you need?" I look at them and Kraglin hands me a holopad with a long list of things to do around the ship, varying on what teams are normally assigned to them. "OK, what things on the list do you want me to do?"

"All 'a tha' list," Yondu tells me and I nod a bit.

"OK... It's a long list... But, I can do that. There's a lot of stuff on here that I'm not sure how to do, but I can learn about it. When do you need the list done?"

"By tha' mission on Xandar."

"A bit under two solar cycles...?"

"Yeah. Tha' a problem?" He raises an eyebrow at me and I scratch the side of my neck slightly, looking at the list before I shake my head.

"No, Captain. When do you want me to start?"

"Now," Kraglin says and they both watch me nod, noticing me chew my lip slightly as I think.

"Yes, Sir." I leave the storage closet and get started on the list, seeing there were also jobs in the hangar.

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think?


End file.
